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THE 

ENGLISH EMPIRE 

TENTH & ELEVENTH CENTURIE3 




THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND 
SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE. 

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THE REQUIRED LITERATURE FOR 1898-99. 

Twenty Centuries of English History (illus- 
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Europe in the Nineteenth Century (illus- 
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Cbautauqua IReaMnq Circle literature 



TWENTY CENTURIES 



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ENGLISH HISTORY 



BY 



JAMES RICHARD JOY 




MEADVILLE PENNA 

FLOOD AND VINCENT 

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iv Preface. 

been made to supplementary reading in poetry. The 
ballad literature of England and Scotland might be 
further drawn upon with profit. 

Should this work serve its chief purpose, by inspiring 
its readers with a desire to know more of English 
history, a few suggestions may be helpful. This book 
would best be followed by Gardiner's "Student's His- 
tory of England," or, if one cares for more of the 
social life and less of drum and trumpet, by Green's 
"Short History of the English People." To cover the 
ground more thoroughly read Green's "Making of 
England," Freeman's "Norman Conquest," Froude's 
" History of [Tudor] England," Gardiner's still incom- 
plete "History of England, 1603-1660," Macaulay's 
" History of England from the Accession of James II.," 
Lecky's "History of England in the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury," Stanhope's " History of England, 1701-83," Mar- 
tineau's "History of England, 1800-1854," Walpole's 
" History of England from 1815," McCarthy's "His- 
tory of Our Own Times." It should be remembered 
that most of these historians saw through Protestant 
spectacles. The Roman Catholic authority is Lingard, 
whose history is of great value. 

Much of the early course of English history, espe- 
cially during the period when England was a continental 
power, should be read atlas in hand. The best histori- 
cal atlas for the purpose is Gardiner's. 

In conclusion let me frankly acknowledge before- 
hand my debt to J. R. Green, whose writings have 
renewed the popularity of English history, and to 
H. D. Traill, whose valuable volumes on "Social 
England" have contributed much to the notes. 

James R. Joy. 
Plainfield, N. /., June /, /SpS. 



CHAPTER 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I. The Home of the English n 

II. England before the English, 55 B. C- 

410 A. D 28 

III. The English in Britain, 410 A. D.-S37 

A. D. — From the Roman Evacua- 
tion to the Rise of Wessex ... 38 

IV. The English and the Northmen, 837 

A. D.-1066 A. D. — From the Su- 
premacy of the West Saxons to 

the Norman Conquest 53 

V. The Norman Kings, 1066 A. D.-1135 
A. D. — From the Accession of 
William I. to the Death of Henry 

1 68 

VI. The Rise of the Barons, 1135 A. D.- 
1216 A. D. — From the Accession of 
Stephen to the Death of John . 86 

VII. The Plantagenet Kings, 12 16 A. D.- 
1327 A. D. — From the Accession of 
Henry III. to the Death of Ed- 
ward II 106 

VIII. England and France, 1327 A. D.-1422 
A. D. — From the Accession of Ed- 
ward III. to the Death of Henry 

V 124 

IX. Lancaster and York, 1422 A. D.-1485 
A. D. — From the Accession of 
Henry VI. to the Deposition of 
Richard III 145 



vi Contents. 

X. The Tudor Despotism, 1485 A. D.-1547 
A. D. — Henry VII. and Henry 

VIII l6 i 

XI. The Later Tudors, 1547 A. D.-1603 
A. D. — From the Accession of Ed- 
ward VI. to the Death of Eliza- 
beth l84 

XII. Cavalier and Roundhead, 1603 A.D.- 
1649 A. D. — From the Accession 
of James I. to the Execution of 
Charles 1 216 

XIII. The Commonwealth and the Resto- 

ration, 1649 A. D.-1685 A. D. — 
From the Execution of Charles 
I. to the Death of Charles II. . . 250 

XIV. The Era of the Protestant Revo- 

lution, 1685 A. D.-1714 A. D.— From 
the Accession of James II. to the 

Death of Anne 263 

XV. The Hanoverian Sovereigns, 17 14 
A. D.-1837 A. D.— From the Acces- 
sion of George I. to the Death of 

William IV 2 j8 

XVI. The Victorian Era, 1837 A. D.-1897 
A. D. — From the Accession of 
Queen Victoria to the "Diamond 
Jubilee" of Her Reign 295 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Map of England (full-page colored map), First front lining page. 
English Empire in Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (full-page 

colored map) Second front lining page. 

The Houses of Parliament Frontispiece. 

PAGE 

Bust of Julius Caesar 30 

Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain 33 

Boat for Fourteen Pairs of Oars, found at Nydam, Jutland 39 

Jutish or Danish Mail-coat in use before 450 A. D 40 

Old English Glass Vessels 44 

Ships of the Northmen 54 

St. Dunstan at the Feet of Christ 60 

Canute and His Queen 62 

William Sailing to England 66 

The White Tower (Tower of London) 80 

Great Seal of Henry 1 82 

Dover Castle 88 

The Standard, 1138 89 

Canterbury Cathedral 92 

A Crusader 99 

Simon de Montfort 108 

Dominican (Black) Friar in 

Oxford, from Magdalen Tower 113 

The English Coronation Chair 116 

View of Windsor Castle, showing the Great Round Tower 125 

Cannon used at Crecy 127 

William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester 132 

John Wyclif 134 

Joan of Arc 147 

The Traitor's Gate, Tower of London 157 

The Princes in the Tower 163 

Henry VIII 167 

Cardinal Wolsey 16S 

Anne Boleyn 17 1 

Sir Thomas More 173 

Ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of Fountains 175 



viii Illustrations. 



Hampton Court Palace 178 

Westminster Abbey 181 

Mary Tudor 190 

Queen Elizabeth 196 

Bedroom of Queen Mary at Holyrood 200 

Hatfield, an Elizabethan Manor 207 

Ruins of Kenilworth Castle 210 

James 1 217 

Charles 1 226 

John Hampden 22- 

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury 232 

England and Wales, December 9, 1643 243 

Oliver Cromwell 251 

St. Paul's Cathedral 255 

John Milton 259 

James II 264 

Buckingham Palace 267 

Windsor Castle, East Front 269 

The Bank of England 271 

Blenheim Castle 274 

George 1 279 

William Pitt 282 

Lord Clive 283 

The Throne Room, Windsor Castle 2S5 

Nelson Column, Trafalgar Square 2SS 

Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington 291 

Daniel O'Connell 292 

Queen Victoria in Her Coronation Robes 296 

John Stuart Mill 297 

John Tyndall 299 

Charles Darwin 301 

Thomas H. Huxley 302 

Ruins of Residency, Lucknow 303 

William Ewart Gladstone 305 

Henry M. Stanley 30 

Whiffingham Church, Isle oi Wight - 

Queen Victoria 309 

Possessions of the British Empire (two-page colored map), 

End Hi:: 



The required books of the C. L. S. C. are recommended by 
a Council of six. It must, however, be understood that 
recommendation does not involve an approval by the Coun- 
cil, or by any member of it, of every principle or doctrine 
contained in the book recommended. 



C. 1 . s. C. MOTTOES. 

We Studv nil-- Word a.nd ihk Works 

of God. 
Let us keep our Heavenly Father i\ 

11 U" MIDST. 

Never be Discouraged. 
l ook Up \\n Lift Up. 



TWENTY CENTURIES OF ENGLISH 
HISTORY. 

CHAPTER I. 

The I Iome <>i i in. English. 

Tin. studenl of the marvelous history of England, 
her progress from weakness and poverty to surpassing 
wealth and dominion, must be impressed by the way in 
which the physical characteristics of hi.s home land 
have molded the development of the nation. The mi 
obvious of these influences has been tin- most effective, 
and England is now the ruler of continents because for ■ 
centuries her domain was limited to a small island. 
There first she learned to rule- herself. It was this 
insular position — distinct, though not distant, from 
Europe — that delayed and restricted the Roman ' on 
quest; this it was which tempted the Anglo-Saxon 
invaders, and later left them free to consolidate the 
kingdom they had won; and not until the Norman- 
French conquerors had losl their continental dom in io 
and become simply the lords of the island did England 
begin to take her rightful plao of the ■• 

and first in the roll of commercial empires. Sitting 
thus by herself, removed a step from her brawling ll^'X^m^l 
neighbors, England lias followed her own lines of 
development. A study of the chi< in the- his- 

tory of th'- English folk should be prefaced by some 

a' ' ount of their beautiful island. 

The- British Isles, of whose are,, England compri ■ 



12 Twenty Centuries of English Hti 



about one half, exceed five thousand in number, though 

The British many of them are but barren, rocky islets and onlv two, 

- 

Great Britain and Ireland, are of considerable size and 
historical importance. On the westward the Atlantic 
Ocean, a thousand leagues wide and a thousand fathoms 
deep, separates them from the American continent and 
furnishes a roadway for the commerce of two worlds. 
The North Sea rolls its shallow waters on the east, 
inviting communication with the Baltic and the hundred 
harbors of Northern Europe. To the south the sea 
Surrounding narrows to the Strait of Dover, where the French 

se.ts. 

sentinel at Calais may descry the chalk cliffs of England 
across twenty miles of choppy waxes. The strait re- 
laxes again in the English Channel, which washes the 
southern shore of England and the northern coast of 
France. Again two channels — the North and St. 
George's — together with the Irish Sea, furnish a con- 
tinuous waterway on the west between the two greater 
islands of the British group. 

North of Great Britain are two rockv groups of 
Outlying islets, islands, the Shetlands — famous for hardy ponies — and 
the Orkneys, weather-beaten, sea-bird-haunted cliffs. 
Westward, and not far from the Scottish coast, are the 
stormy Hebrides. Among these are Lewis. Skye, little 
Staffa, famed for Fingal's Cave, and Iona, the mission 
station of Celtic Christianity. Advancing southward 
past Islay and Arran, the voyager in the Irish Sea 
would reach the Isle of Man and Anglesey. West of 
Land's laid, at the southwestern angle of England, are 
sprinkled the Scilly Islands, a welcome sight to the 
eastward-faring mariner, and nestling close under the 
southern coast is the fair Isle of Wight. Twenty 
leagues away to the southward are cattle-breeding 
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and the other 



The Home of the English. 13 



Scotland. 



Channel Islands, 1 appearing now like British outposts, ,.. . 
hut in reality the poor remnant of a onee vast con- islands, 
tinental realm. On the east coast of Great Britain but 
one island need be named — the Holy Isle," near the 
mouth of the Tweed. 

Great Britain itself comprises about two thirds of the 
British group. Its area is 84,000 square miles, with a Great Britain, 
maximum length of 600 miles, from Land's Paid to 
John O'Groat's House/ 1 ami a breadth varying from 33 
to 367 miles. Although now under a single crown, it is 
divided into three sections anciently independent — 
Scotland, Wales, and England. Scotland has an area 
of 24,000 miles, a length of 286, and a breadth of from 
33 to 160 miles. It is a land of rugged mountains, 
beautiful glens, and crystal lakes, but its soil, save in 
the southern Lowlands, is thin and its climate harsh, 
and neither in wealth nor population can it compare 
with England. Wales is rugged, and among its moun- 
tain-masses still survive the descendants of the ancient Wales. 
Celtic race. The principality covers 7,400 square miles, 
and until the dawn of the present era of metals and 
steam the Welsh people were as poor as they were 
scattered. Mining and quarrying for coal, iron, and 
slate have changed this for the better. 

East of Wales and south of Scotland, occupying two 
thirds of Great Britain, the choicest territory of the ngan ' 

1 The Channel Islands have heen under English rule since the reign of 
King John (1204). They are a fragment of old Normandy, and the language 
of the people is a modification of the old Norman French. English is now 
taught in the parish schools. Lying within ten miles of the French coast, 
their strategic importance is great and their fortifications are elaborate. 
The population of the entire group is less than 100,000. 

2 " The Holy Isle," or Lindisfarne, was the seat of an abbey founded in the 
seventh century by Aidau. St. Cuthbert'S missionary labors made it famous. 
See description in Scott's " Marmion." 

3 "John O'Groat," according to the legend, was a Dutchman who lived at 
the northern extremity of Scotland about 1550. Having eight sons, he 
avoided disputes as to precedence among them by building an octagonal 
house with a front door on each side, and with an eight-sided table. This 
odd dwelling became a landmark. 



14 Iwenty Centuries of English His 



island, lies England. It measures only 350 miles from 

Physical con- north to south and nowhere more than 570 from east to 
figuration. "■ ' 

west. Its area, stated roundly, is 50,000 miles. It 
will make matters clearer to survey its physical features, 
note where its mountains rise, where its great plains are 
spread out., and whence and whither its rivers run. The 
backbone of England is the Pennine chain, a line of 
mountains and high plains, or moors, extending south- 
ward from the Scottish border to the heart of the king- 
dom, where it ends in the Feak of Derbyshire. On the 
one side — west — of the Pennine range is a knot of lofty 
mountains, the Cumbrian Hills, among which rise 
Mounta Scafell (3,162 feet), "the brow of mighty Helvellyn" 

;.iiS feet), and Skiddaw 3,054 feet). In the folds 
of these mountains are the lakes Windermere. Ulles- 
water, Derwentwater, Thirlmere, Buttermere, Conis- 
ton Water, and others, which have made this pic- 
turesque "lake district" the favorite haunt of poets. 
East of the Pennines is the great plain of York. A 
range of uplands separates these levels from the fertile 
valley of the Thames, which stretches nearly across the 
kingdom, and from the Severn valley, which cuts 
the Welsh highlands from the gentle levels of the East. 
Cornwall, the narrow southwestern prolongation of Eng- 
land, is mountainous, like Wales, but the greater part 
of Southern England is a rolling country traversed by 
four ranges of uplands or high plains. North of them, 
beyond the valleys of Thames and Severn, under a pall 
of smoke, lies the manufacturing center of the world, 
drawing its sustenance from the iron. coal, and lead of 
the Pennine chain, the wool from the northern and south- 
ern grazing lands, and the cotton of both hemispheres. 1 

1 Industry and Commerce : The value of the metallic and mineral produce 
of the United Kingdom in iS - •: which about one third 

was coal and one tenth iron. In in» there were in the United K 



The Home of the English. 15 

Navigable seas surround the island, fine harbors in- 
dent its coasts, and numerous rivers water its plains Inland waters. 
and thread its valleys. Deep bays and prominent head- 
lands give to England and Wales a coast-line of nearly 
2,000 miles. The eastern shore is generally low and 
level. The rivers that enter the German Ocean are the 
Tyne, which flows through the northern coal-beds, the 
Tees, the H umber, which gathers to itself a sheaf of „ ,. , . 

English rivers. 

streams — the Trent and Ouse among them — the Wash, 

a shallow estuarv, anil the Thames, the main water- 
course of Great Britain. The south coast runs through 
main- variations of height, from the low chalk cliffs of 
Dover to the iron-bound promontories of Cornwall. Its 
rivers are unimportant, but the arms of the sea, which 
embrace the Isle of Wight, provide the splendid 
harbors of Portsmouth and Southampton, ami farther 
toward the west is Plymouth Sound. Rounding Land's 
End and coasting northward, the sailor enters the broad 
waters of Bristol Channel, the estuarv of the Severn. 
North of Wales the rivers Dee and Mersey discharge 
into the Irish Sea through broad mouths, the former now 
choked by "the sands o' Dee," the latter harboring the 
second seaport of the realm (Liverpool). The Ribble 
cuts another deep notch in Lancashire, a little south of 
the wide Bay of Morecambe, which receives the Lune 
and other southward-flowing waters from the Cumbrian 
Hills. The northerly meres ami torrents find their wax 
into Solway Firth by the Eden and Derwent. 

The climate of the British Isles is remarkable. The Warmlh and 
group lies between parallels 50 and 6o° of north lati- 5 1 "|JJ a t e tyofthe 

7,160 textile factories employing; 1,084,631 persons. Cotton and woolen goods 
are the leading manufactures. The shipping of Great Britain exceeds that of 
all other nations combined. The mercantile marine in 1S92 comprised 21,543 
vessels of 8,279,297 tons, or, with the colonial marine, fully 10,000,000 tons. 
The value of imports, chiefly breadstuffs ami raw materials, was (1892) 
^423,819,000; the value of exports, chiefly manufactured products, ,£227,060,- 
000. 



1 6 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



tude, as far north .is Labrador or Central Russia, yet 
the temperature is mild throughout the year. It is 
their insular position, and especially the proximity of the 
warm ocean-river, the Gulf Stream, which sweeps past 
their western shores, which secures to these islands 
warmth and evenness of temperature and plentiful 
moisture. Ireland is as warm as Virginia, and the Isle of 
Wight basks in the sun and air of Italy. The extremes 
of temperature familiar to New Yorkers are unknown in 
London. Rains are frequent and copious. The pre- 
vailing west winds gather moisture from the Atlantic. 
Ireland receives the first downpour, and its emerald 
fields are watered by showers upon 208 days in the 
Verdant vear. The mountains of Britain — Scottish, Welsh, and 

landscape. 

English — next intercept the heavy clouds. The rain- 
fall upon their western slopes is enormous — seven feet 
every year in some districts. These waters reach the 
sea in short and rapid torrents. The eastern counties 
have but a moderate amount of rain, but nowhere is the 
land too dry for pasturage, and in general the humid 
atmosphere nourishes the lawns, fields, and hedge-rows, 
which give luxuriant verdure to the English landscape. 
This moisture, with the temperate climate, makes the 
soil productive of rich crops of cereals. Wheat thrives 
almost everywhere, and barley and oats in the North. 
Ireland's chief crop is potatoes, though flax is culti- 
vated. Grazing is successful in all parts of the United 
Kingdom, and the best breeds of horned cattle and 
sheep bear the names of the English counties and 
islands where they were bred. 

Moor and fell, lake, stream, and chalk cliff remain 

Political sub- much as they were when the first Greek or Roman 

discoverer set foot in Britain, but among these the 

modern traveler or student rinds new names and places 



The Home of the English. 



17 



that mark the island as the habitation of man. England 
has a political geography no less interesting than its 
physical features. At the outset the student does well 
to fix in his mind its leading facts — the counties and 
towns of England, their names, positions, and char- 
acteristics. 

With the help of a map we shall again commence at 
Berwick, on the river Tweed — the English Rubicon — 
and, moving southward, note them in rapid succession. 

The first of the forty English shires, or counties, 1 is The shires of 
Northumberland, the old border-land where English E "g ,a " (1 - 
Percy and Scottish Douglas met in frequent foray. Northumber- 
The Tweed on the north and the Tyne on the south 
form outlets for the rich coal-measures which contribute 
to the prosperity of North Shields and Newcastle-on- 
Tyne, the latter city ranking after London and Liver- 
pool in trade. 

Durham, which lies next, between the Tyne and 
Tees, surpasses its northern neighbor in the variety of Durham, 
its industries. Its coal-beds are extensive ; near them 



i The counties received their present names more than a thousand years 
ago. Their area and population (1891) are as follows : 



Shire. 



Bedfordshire 

Berkshire 

Buckinghamshire... 

Cambridgeshire 

Cheshire 

Cornwall 

Cumberland 

Derbyshire 

Devonshire 

Dorsetshire 

Durham 

Essex 

Gloucestershire 

Hampshire 

Herefordshire 

Hertfordshire 

Huntingdonshire ... 

Kent 

Lancashire 

Leicestershire 



Area. Pop- 
Sq. A/. uli it inn. 



461 

722 

746 

820 

1,027 

1 .350 

1..S1.S 

1,029 

2,586 

980 

1,012 

1.542 

1,225 

1,621 

833 

633 

359 

1.555 

I ,Ss.S 

800 



160,729 

238,446 
185,190 

188,862 
730,052 

322,589 
266,550 
527,886 
631,767 
194.487 

1,016,449 

785,399 

599.974 

690,086 

115,986 

220,125 

57.772 

1,142,281 

3,926,798 

373.693 



Shire. 



Lincolnshire 

Middlesex 

Monmouthshire 

Norfolk 

Northamptonshire. 
Northumberland. . 
Nottinghamshire... 

Oxfordshire 

Rutland , 

Shropshire 

Somerset 

Staffordshire 

SufTolk 

Surrey.... 

Sussex 

Warwickshire 

Westmoreland 

Wiltshire 

Worcestershire 

Yorkshire 



Area. Pop- 
Sq. M. ulation. 



2,762 
283 
579 

2,119 
984 

2,016 
825 
756 
148 

1,320 

1,640 

1,169 

1,475 
758 

1,458 
885 
783 

1 ,354 
738 

6,067 



472,778 

3.251,703 
252,260 
456,474 
302,184 
506,096 
445,599 
185,938 
20,659 
236,324 
484,326 

1,083,273 
369,351 

1,730,87' 
550,442 
805,070 
66,098 
264,969 
413.755 

3,208,813 



i8 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



is iron ore, and its river valleys are checkered with 
fertile farms. The shire-town bearing the same name is 
a quiet little city on the river Wear, with a famous 
cathedral church — "half church of God, half castle 
'gainst the Scot." Sunderland and South Shields are 
the other cities. 

York, the largest of the shires, occupies the plain 

Yorkshire. between the Tees and the Humber, drained by the 

dozen streams which swell the latter river through the 
channel of the Ouse. In the center of this rich farming 
district is the city of York, one of the oldest of English 
towns and prominent in the chronicles of war and 
peace, church and state. It has a splendid cathedral, 
the seat of one of the two Anglican archbishops. Moors 
and uplands rich in metals and coal skirt this river- 
basin, and at the southwestern angle among the Pennine 
foot-hills populous manufacturing cities have sprung up 
around the woolen-mills of Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, 
Huddersfield, and the edge-tool shops of Sheffield. 
Hull, on the Humber, is the port for much of the export 
trade in the products of these factories. 

Lincolnshire lies between the Wash and the Humber. 

Lincolnshire. Its northern "wolds" are upland pastures. Its low- 
lands are the vast marshes called "the fens." This 
"hollow-land," or "Holland," has been diked and 
drained and is now rich grass-land, while myriads of 
waterfowl breed among its canals. The capital is the 
beautiful cathedral city of Lincoln, and the chief port is 
Boston — St. Botolph's town — both located on the river 
Witham and both bearing names dear to Americans. 

i English Cathedrals : A cathedral church is the chief church of a diocese, 
in which the bishop has his official seat or throne [cathedra). There are 
cathedral churches at Canterbury, York, Durham, Winchester, Carlisle, Ely, 
Norwich, Rochester, Worcester, London, Chichester, Exeter, Hereford, Lich- 
field , Lincoln, Salisbury, Bath, Wells, Manchester, Ripou, Bristol, Glouces- 
ter, Chester, Newcastle, Oxford, Peterborough, Southwell, Truro, Wakefield, 
and St. Albans. 



The Home of the English. 19 



West of Lincolnshire the river Trent drains an inland .„. ... ., 

The Midlands : 

region comprising the four Midland counties — Notting- Q 0t L in ^ 1 t ai 2' d 
ham, Derby, Stafford, and Leicester. All except the and Leicester. ' 
last named border the Pennine chain and delve for its 
minerals. In Nottinghamshire was Sherwood Forest, 
the haunt of Robin Hood and his greenwood rangers. 
Nottingham city is famous for its laces, and there is no 
other large town, the farming people being dispersed 
among many market-towns and villages. ' Northern 
Derbvshire contains the rugged region of the Peak 

- . . &s ' ...... The Peak. 

(1,981 feet high) and its eastern section is rich in coal 
and iron. Derby is the thriving county seat. Rich 
Staffordshire lies next, on the southwest. Coal in the 
north and coal again in the south, alternating with 
rich beds of clay, have made the Staffordshire potteries 
the largest in England. Stafford, a "shoe-town," is 
the county seat, but Stoke-on-Trent is the center of the 
earthenware manufacture. In the south are Wolver- 
hampton, with extensive iron furnaces, Burton-on-Trent. 
a brewers' city, and peaceful old Lichfield, with its 
stately cathedral. The least of the midland shires is 
Leicester. Its pleasant farms lie wholly south of the 
Trent, and are watered by the river Soar. Leicester, 
where court is held and wool is spun and woven, is the 
only large city among a score of rural towns. 

With Lincoln, noticed above, five other shires — - T i, e East Mid- 
Rutland, Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford, and Norttampto",* 1 ' 
Cambridge — are sometimes classed as counties of the B e "{} o ' r n (f d0 "' 
Wash or the East Midlands. Rutland is the smallest Cambridge, 
shire in England ; the court-house is at Oakham. The 
watershed of Central England extends through long 
and narrow Northamptonshire ; numerous herds graze 

1 From Austerfield and Scrooby, two villages at the corner of the three 
shires of Nottingham, York, and Lincoln, began the Puritan exodus to New 
England . 



20 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



The Puritan 
country. 



East Anglia : 
Norfolk and 
Suffolk. 



The valley of 

the Thames : 

Essex, 

Middlesex, 

Hertford, 

Buckingham, 

Oxford'. 

Berkshire, 

Surrey, and 

Kent.' 



upon these uplands, and rivers springing; here rind their 
diverse ways to the Wash, the Severn, and the Thames. 
Northampton, the capital, is the center of the shoe- 
trade, but Peterborough, with its towering cathedral, 
is far more interesting. About the farms of level 
Huntingdon lingers the memory of Oliver Cromwell, its 
most famous landholder ; and Bedford, the county seat 
of the adjoining Bedfordshire, is better known for its 
dreaming tinker, John Bunyan, than for the numberless 
straw hats and bonnets plaited there and at Dunstable. 
The last of these six counties bears the renowned name 
of Cambridge, its county seat, where in simpler times 
the little river Cam was bridged, and where one of the 
two historic English universities has been for six centu- 
ries a center of learning. The northern section of the 
shire is fen-land, and from the marshes rises the Isle of 
Ely, a religious center from the earliest English times. 

Between Cambridge and the east coast lie the two 
East Anglian 1 counties, Norfolk and Suffolk, the "north- 
folk" and "south-folk" of the Angles, who first con- 
quered this district. Farms in the interior and fisheries 
on the seaboard give employment to the inhabitants. 
Norwich is the capital and Yarmouth — famed for its 
herrings — the seaport of the northern shire. Ipswich is 
both capital and port of Suffolk. In the interior is the 
historic Bury St. Edmunds. 

The Thames is the chief English river. It is two 
hundred and fifteen miles long, and eight counties lie 
within the region which it drains. Essex, Middlesex, 
Hertford, Buckingham, and Oxford lie on its left bank, 
opposed on the other shore by Berkshire, Surrey, and 
Kent. Essex got its name from its East Saxon conquer- 

l The larger number of the early settlers of New England emigrated from, 
the East Anglian counties. Two "thirds is John Fiske's estimated" the pro- 
portion. See " Beginnings of New England," pp. 62-5. 



The Home of the English. 21 



ors. Where once stretched the royal hunting preserves 
of Epping and Hainault is now a land of farms and rural 
prosperity. At Shoeburyness, guarding the Thames- 
mouth, is the artillery school of the British army. The 
Middle Saxons gave their name to Middlesex, smallest 
but one and most populous of all the English shires. 
Its capital is Brentford. Westward, by a heath once 
infested by Sir John Falstaff and fiercer cut-purses, is 
Hounslow, and a few miles to the north is Harrow, the 
home of a famous public school. 

But in comparison with its great city the towns of 
Middlesex sink out of sight ; for within this county lies 
the greater portion of London, the greatest city that the 
world has known. The population of 4,000,000' souls 
gathered here overflows upon the Surrey side of the 
Thames, and the docks and warehouses of its abound- 
ing commerce line the river to its mouth. London is 
the seat of the English government and the capital of 
the world's trade. Hither run all the roads in Eng- 
land, and hither tend keels on every sea. Middlesex 
cuts off Hertford from direct contact with the Thames. 
St. Albans is a town of ancient note. In Buckingham- 
shire is the great public school of Eton. Agriculture 
is the prevailing industry, as it is in Oxfordshire, which 
adjoins the former on the west. Oxford, the county 
seat, has also a cathedral and a university seven cen- 
turies old. In the northwest are the Edge Hills, and in 
the center of the county is Woodstock, where the poet 
Chaucer lived and wrote " The Canterbury Tales." 

Crossing to the right bank of the Thames, and fol- 
lowing it to the sea, we pass through Berkshire, an- 

1 Statistics of London : London occupies 75,442 acres and in 1891 contained 
4,232,118 inhabitants. It was growing at the rate of one per cent a year. The 
population exceeds that of Scotland and approaches that of Ireland. The 
Thames is navigable up to the Tower of London, and the commerce of London 
exceeds that of any city in the world. 



London. 



Oxford. 



22 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Windsor. 



Canterbury. 



The Channel 
coast : Sussex. 



other land of farmers, having the royal castle of Wind- 
sor in its northeastern angle. The Hampshire Downs, 
a range of chalk hills which crosses Berkshire, also 
traverse the adjacent county of Surrey. Here the in- 
fluence of London has turned the farming hamlets into 
thrifty suburban towns, and two populous divisions of 
the metropolis, Lambeth and Southwark, lie wholly on 
the Surrey side. Kent lies between Surrey and the 
Straits of Dover, confronting Europe. On this coast 
are Dover ' and Folkestone, whence steamboats cross 
to Calais and Boulogne in France. Ramsgate and Mar- 
gate are the popular seashore resorts of the London 
crowds. Canterbury's grand cathedral, the seat of the 
first Anglican archbishop, is perhaps the most venerated 
spot in the kingdom. Tunbridge Wells, on the southern 
border, was the fashionable watering-place two hundred 
years ago ; at Rochester is an ancient cathedral, and 
near by at Chatham is the arsenal of the royal navy. 
Deptford, Greenwich, Woolwich, and Gravesend, which 
elbow each other for a water-front upon the Thames, 
present mile upon mile of docks, crowded with the ship- 
ping of the globe. Marking the mouth of the Thames 
is the North Foreland light. 

Leaving the Thames counties, our traveling student 
of political geography may follow the Channel coast into 
Sussex, a name bringing memories of the South Saxons. 
The surface of this shire is broken by the South Downs, 
a range of crumbling chalk hills ending at the Channel 
shore in Beachy Head. Between these hills and the 
North Downs is the Weald, a plain of clay and sand, 



1 The Cinque Ports : The governor of Dover Castle is also " Lord Protector 
of the Cinque Ports." These Channel towns, originally five in number (Do- 
ver, Hastings, Roniney, Hythe, and Sandwich), furnished most of the ships 
and sailors for the defense of the kingdom before the existence of a navy. 
For this they received a special charter granting them extraordinary political 
rights. See " The Cinque Ports " in Historic Towns Series. 



The Home of the English. 23 



Hampshire. 



Water. 



which was until recently a tangled wilderness. Among 
the Sussex coast towns are Hastings, where William the 
Conqueror fought, and Brighton, the English "Coney 
Island." Chichester, now decayed, has the court-house 
and bishop's church. 

The Hampshire Downs, of which the North and 
South Downs are the eastern branches, extend across 
northern Hampshire, rising in places to the height of 
about 1,000 feet. Between their wall and the Channel 
is a gently undulating and fertile region, of which the 
ancient royal and cathedral city of Winchester is the 
center. Two harbors, Portsmouth and Southampton, 
indent the southern coast, the former being a naval 
post, the latter the entry port of an active commerce 
with the Mediterranean, and the landing-place for lines 
of transatlantic steamers. Southampton Water, with its Southampton 
arms, the Solent and Spithead, divides the Isle of Wight 
from the Hampshire mainland. The climate of the 
island is charmingly mild and its scenery beautiful. 
West of Southampton Water is the wide tract of wood- 
land called the New Forest, the game preserve of the 
Norman kings. 

Wiltshire, though wholly inland, is linked with this 
southern range of counties by its rivers, which flow into 
the English Channel, though parts of it are drained by 
affluents of the Thames and Severn. Much of its sur- 
face is high and barren — Salisbury Plain and Marl- 
borough Downs. Salisbury is the capital and cathedral 
city ; Wilton's carpets are unsurpassed ; Stonehenge is 
a circle of massive stones marking, perhaps, the center 
of the idolatrous exercises of the druids. 

Dorset lies between Wilts and the Channel. Much 
of its surface is high, and clay for the Stafford potteries 
is almost its only mineral product. 



Wiltshire. 



24 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

The wedge of Bristol Channel splits off a slender sliver 
somerset. f l an d, which is divided between the three counties of 

Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. Somersetshire bor- 
ders the Bristol Channel and is cut in two by the river 
Parret. East of this river are low hills and fertile val- 
leys. There are cathedrals at Bath and Wells, and 
Glastonbury was early the site of the most extensive 
monastery in the island. West of the river masses of 
rocky mountains take the place of the ridges of chalk 
and lime which cross the eastern counties, and few vil- 
lages are found in their isolated glens. The mountains 
Devon °^ Devonshire rise higher, and are rich in metals. Ex- 

moor is the name given to the highlands of North 
Devon, and Dartmoor to the more extensive southern 
plateau. Yes Tor, the Dartmoor summit, exceeds 
2,000 feet in height. Mines of lead, iron, tin. copper, 
and quarries of valuable building stone enrich South 
Devonshire, and have built busy ports at the mouths of 
the rivers : Plymouth, Devonport, and Dartmouth. In 
the plain between these two strips of moorland are bred 
the Devon cattle, and here are the towns of Exeter, 
another cathedral city, and Honiton, famous for its lace. 
The point of this southwestern sliver of Britain is the 
c>umty of Cornwall, 1 which is again riven at its western 
Cornwall. tip into the two headlands — Land's End and Lizard 

Point. Granite rocks and scant}- soil form the forbid- 
ding surface of the shire, but the hard rocks of the 
utmost west are richly veined with lead, copper, and 
tin. The chief Cornish towns are Truro, Falmouth, 
and Penzance. 

Turning northward from the mineral-bearing rocks of 

1 " The delectable duchy " of Cornwall is an appanage of the heir-apparent to 

the English crown. The inhabitants are of Celtic race, akin to the Welsh, 
though their language has been displaced by English. The tin mines have 
been worked from prehistoric times, and Cornishmeu are found in all mining 
regions of the world. 



The Home of the English. 25 



Devon and Cornwall, we rind a group of six West Mid- 
land eounties lying in the valley of the Severn, between \\ Vsl Midlands 

70 ' Gloucestei , 

Wales and the already mentioned Midland shires. Worcester, 

J Warwick, 

They are Gloucester, Worcester, Warwick, Monmouth, Monmouth, 

J Hereford, 

Hereford, and Salop, or Shropshire. The first named Salop, 
is an agricultural region, notable for the wool of its 
Cotswold flocks and for the commerce and manufac- 
tures of its city of Bristol, which trades extensively with 
Ireland and the West Indies. Tracing the course of 
the Severn northward, one enters Worcestershire, a 
land of fertile valleys, rich in farms and orchards. 
Worcester, its capital, has famous porcelain works, 
carpets are woven at Kidderminster, and iron and glass 
are manufactured in a busy district at the north. The 
river Axon, the main tributary of the Severn, flows 
midway through lovely Warwickshire. This is Shake- 

y . Shakespeare's 

speare's county. Rugby, dear to many generations of county. 
English schoolboys, is in the Avon valley. So are 
Coventry, where the chaste Godiva rode at noonday, 
and the ruins of Kenilworth. Beyond the charming- 
valley is the populous manufacturing city of Birming- 
ham, ranking: fourth in Eneland. Across the Severn, 
from Gloucester, is Monmouthshire, taken from Wales 
by the eighth King Henry. The Welsh mountain 
spurs which enter the county from the west yield coal 
and iron, and the basin of the river Usk is fertile. The 
Wye, which here enters the Severn, has come down 
through the orchards and hop-gardens of Hereford- 
shire. The sixth and largest of the West Midland 
counties is rural Shropshire. 

The four remaining counties of England — Chester, 
Lancaster, Westmoreland, Cumberland — are washed 
by the Irish Sea and run back to the Pennine chain. 
The double advantage of mineral wealth and waterways 






„ 'is A His: 



The v 






Cumberland. 



has raised them in wealth and population. Cheshire 
has the Mersey, with the seaport of Birkenhead on its 
northern, and the sandy Pee. with Roman-walled 
ster, on its southern boundary. Midway flows the 
river Weaver, through a valley whose salt springs were 
savory before the invasion of Cesar. C tnd lead 

min< - . ields and stone-quarries, are worked in the 
rn districts, which thus gain import 5 a manu- 

facturing- center. But the county of Lancas 
Lancashire, stands easily first in manufactures. I 
- r is a long and narrow county, comprising the 
[lakes md mountains of Furness, the thinly 
d pasture-lands of North Lancashire, and. between 
the R and Mersey. South Lancashire, a swarming 

hive of industry. The coal-fields of the Lancashire 
moorlands and the use of steam-power have chang 
this desolate country into a populous and wealthy sec- 
tion, until, as a recent writer says, "the whole county 
has now the appearance of one unbroken city of mills 
and factories, all busied in the same trade, the wea^ ii g 
dyeing, and printing tton." Bolton. Oldham, 

Rochdale, and Manchester — the latter now linked with 
tide- water by a si rial — are cities of spin. - 

looms, and Liverpool, Mersey, the s 

of England and second seaport of the world, is the 
outlet and inlet for the materials and products of this 
enormous industry. Westmoreland, which only comes 
down to the sea at the head of M Bay, is the 

most mountainous and barren of the English counties. 
Vet the poets who have haunted its valleys and sung 
the g - f Helvellyn and the beauty of Windermere 
have made this lake region forever charming. Cuml 

:h in mineral-bearing moun - - the 

of the shires. Gray old Carlis 5 its 



The Home of the English. 



beginnings. 



The reader turns now From this survey of crowded 
cities, bustling mart-, great mills, and gray cathedrals. ^1™',!^ 
The beginnings of English history must be sought 
before the Englishmen landed in Britain, and when rude 
Celtic tribes tilled the plains and hunted through the 
Forests of the island. 

rOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

i. The Location and Physical Characteristics of 
Great Britain as Factors in the Development 
of the English Nation. 
The Growth of the English Nation. K. Coman. 

2. The Geography of the British Isles. 

A Short Geography ^\ the British Isles. J. R. and A. 
S. Green. 

3. The City of London. 

London. W. J. Loftie. (Historic Towns Series. 1 

London. W. Besant. 

London: Life and Labour of the People. C. Booth. 

For a general description of England and its people read 
"A Trip to England," by Goldwin Smith, "Our Old Home" 
and "English Note-Books," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Eng- 
land Without and Within," by Richard Giant White, "Old 
England," by James M. Hoppin. Baedeker's "Great Britain," 
though designed as a traveler's guide, is an admirable hand- 
book for the historical student. Gardiner's " Atlas of English 
History" is a desirable companion. 



CHAPTER II. 



England before the Engi [Sh, 



B. C.-410 A. D. 



The predeces- 
sors of the 
English in 
Britain. 



Britons. 



Silures. 



The Aryan 
migrations. 



The Celts. 



The pagan English who landed in Britain in the fifth 
century after Christ found the island already occupied 
by the Britons, a Celtic people who had adopted the 
manners and religion of Christian Rome. The Roman 
pioneers who preceded the English by five centuries 
found a remnant of a still earlier people in the island. 
Of this swarthy, curly-haired race little is known. The 
Britons were akin to the Celtic Gauls of what is now 
France. The theory is now widely accepted that from 
some prehistoric mother-land successive waxes of migra- 
tion were sent forth to people the European continent. 
This family of nations is variously named Aryan. Indo- 
European, and Indo-Germanic. ' To it belong most of 
the tribes which peopled Europe at the dawn of history, 
including the Hellenes, of the Greek countries, the 
Italians, from whom sprang the Romans, and the multi- 
tudinous races of Northern Europe — the "barbarians" 
— who were by turns the slaves, the soldiers, and the 
conquerors of Greece and Rome. 

From evidences of location and speech it is concluded 
that the Celts were among the first Aryan families to 
seek new homes. Nearly four centuries before Christ 
they threatened the gates of Rome, and the dawn of 

i Recent investigation locates its primitive home near the Baltic Sea, con- 
trar) totheearlier opinion that placed it in Western Asia, rhe eight main 
groups of languages from this stock are j[i) Indo-Iranian. (2) Armenian, 
13) Greek, (4) Italic, (5) Celtic, l,pl Teutonic or Germanic. - BaitO-Slavic, 

t/$^ Albanian. 



England before the English. 29 

history found them settled among the peninsulas and 
islands of the West. 

The Celts of the British Islands are of two branches, 
the earlier Gaels — still represented by the Irish, the £aeis.and 
Manx, and the Scottish Highlanders — and the Cymri, 
who originally held most <>f Southern Britain, but who 
found refuge from the Romans and Germans in the 
mountains of Wales, where the language and national 
type survive. 1 

It is believed that Phenician trading vessels visited 
Britain a thousand years before Christ in quest of Earliest notices 

J ' of Britain. 

metallic- ores. Herodotus, "the Father of History" 
(450 B. C. ), doubtless has Cornwall in mind when he 
writes of the "Tin Islands," and the oceanic isles Albin 
and Iverne of Aristotle cannot be other than white-cliffed 
Britain and Hibernia ( Ireland ). 

A traveler, Pytheas, from Gaul visited Britain in the 
fourth century B. C. and wrote of its wide stretches of J' ytl,e *M 0f 

J Marseilles. 

marsh and forest. He stated also that sheep and cattle 
grazed in the oak openings and on the upland pastures. 
Wheat he found growing near the coast, and he noticed 
also that barns must be built for storing the crop, the 
frequent rains forbidding the more careless husbandry 
of Gaul and sunny Sicily. 

About sixty years before the birth of Christ the Ro- 
man power first reached Britain. Julius Caesar, com- 
manding against the Gaulish tribes of France, learned 
that the enemy received succor from certain Britons 

1 The surviving representatives of the Celtic language in the British Isles 
are the Gaelic, still existing in modified forms as Irish, Highland Scotch, and 
Manx, and the Cymric or Welsh. The old Briton long lived in the recesses of 
Cornwall, but died <>ut in the eighteenth century. For examples of Gaelic and 
Welsh see John iii. 16 in those languages : 

Gaelic of Scotch Highlands.- Oir is ann mar sin a ghradhaich Diaan saoghal, 
gu'n d'thug e 'aon-ghin Mhic ffiin, chum as ge b'e neach a chreideas ann, nach 
sgriosare, ach gu'm bi a'bheatha shiorruidh aige. 

Welsh. — Canvs fellv y carodd Duw y"byd, fel y rhoddodd efe ci nniganedig 
Fab, fel na choller pwy bynnag a gredo ynddo ef, ond caffael o bono fywyd 
tragy wyddol. 



3o 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



55 B. C. 



Caesar's first 
invasion. 



Caesar's second 
invasion. 



who inhabited a great island a few leagues west of the 
mainland. With two legions and a hundred small 
vessels he crossed the Straits of Dover (August, 55 
B. C. ). The watchers on the chalk cliffs gave the alarm 
and when the Romans attempted a landing (near Deal) 
the shore was lined with fiercely yelling Britons, horrible 

with war-paint 
and driving their 
heavy war-char- 
iots up and down 
the beach. The 
ships had to an- 
chor far down the 
sand, and the 
legionaries, cum- 
bered with ar- 
mor, must wade 
ashore through 
tumbling break- 
ers, in the face of 
arrows and jave- 
1 ins. ' Once 
landed, their vic- 
tory was easv. 

Bust of Juuus CJESAR. j • i j- 

J and in obedience 

to Caesar's iron discipline they fortified a camp and 
rested from battle and labor. Bad weather soon drove 
the invaders back to their winter quarters in Gaul. 

The following July Caesar returned with a powerful 
force. The painted Britons came crowding into Kent 

rs.\r narrates that while his soldiers hesitated to plunge in. the standard- 
hearer ol the tenth legion having prayed that his act might succeed cried to 
his comrades, " Leap down, my men. unless you wish to betray your eagle to 
the enemy. I shall certainly have done my duty to my country and my gen- 
eral." Every man in his ship followed him over the side, and the conquerors 
of the world were soon on British soil. 




England before the English. 31 



to expel the intruder. Tribal feuds were laid aside in 
the face of the common peril, and one Cassivelaunus — 
so Caesar Latinized the Celtic name Caswallon — was caswailon. 
made leader of the horde. With the courage of num- 
bers and a righteous cause the Celts engaged the legions 
in repeated combats, hurling their chariots through the 
Roman lines, the horsemen leaping to the ground and 
engaging the infantry hand to hand. But the veterans 
of five campaigns in Gaul were not to be stampeded by 
undisciplined islanders, and it was not long before the 
Britons, checked and disheartened, forsook their chief 
and sought safety, tribe by tribe, in submission. Caesar 
pursued Caswallon northward across the Thames and 
took his stronghold. In early autumn the Romans 
withdrew across the Channel, leaving no garrison, but 
taking many noble youths as hostages to secure peace 
and the payment of tribute. How regularly the tribute 
money was paid no records tell. Other events turned 
Caesar's face eastward, and he never revisited the island. 
In his history, Caesar wrote : 

The interior of Britain is inhabited by a race said to be 

aboriginal ; the coast regions by invaders from Belgium, whom Caesar's 

' ° J ' desci iption i il 

war or foray has brought thither, and who have afterward land and 

settled in the country. There is a large population, the build- peop e ' 
ings being numerous and closely resembling those of Gaul. 
Cattle form their chief possession. For money they use 
copper or iron in bars of fixed weight and value. Tin is found 
in the interior, and iron sparingly near the coast. Whatever 
copper they use is imported. They have the forest trees of 
the mainland, except the beech and fir. It is forbidden by law 
to eat the flesh of hare, goose, or chicken, and these creatures 
are domesticated for mere amusement. The island has a 
milder climate than that of Gaul. 

Of all the tribes the Kentish men stand first in civiliza- 
tion. They dwell on the seaboard, and differ little in customs 
from the neighboring Gauls. Farther back from the coast 



2,2 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



many tribes sow no grains, subsisting chiefly upon the milk 
and flesh o\ their herds, whose skins form their clothing-. 
Every Briton stains himself blue with the juice ot the woad, 
giving him a horrible appearance in battle. The men shave 
their faces, excepting the head and the upper lip. Ten or a 
do/en men have wives in common. 

Of their system of society, government, and religion 
Caesar makes little note, but by likening their customs 
to those of Gaul he justifies us in quoting as true of the 
Britons what he says of their Gaulish cousins. He 
found, then, that there were practically two main 
bodies in the nation, the people and the privileged 
classes. The former were little better than slaves of 
their more fortunate masters. The latter class was 
made up of knights and druids. The knightly families 
Knights. were those who were distinguished for wealth or valor. 

Of the Gaulish druids Caesar says : 

The druids have charge k->( all matters oi religion ; they 
Dmids. officiate at public and private sacrifices and interpret the 

omens. The people hold them in high honor, and many 
young men resort to them for education. They decide almost 
all lawsuits, judging and passing sentence in civil and criminal 
cases, murder, disputed wills, and boundaries. Any person 
or tribe that dissents from their decision is declared an outlaw. 
Over them all is an arch-druid, elected by his fellows for life. 
. . . The system is said to have originated in Britain, and 
thither go many Cauls to learn its principles. The druids are 
exempt from taxation ami free from civil and military duties. 
These privileges attract many novitiates, and many others are 
sent to them by parents and kindred. They have to com- 
mit to memory a great number of verses, the full course of 
training sometimes running through twenty years. This 
knowledge of theirs is a sacred secret, and it is unlawful to 
^ -, d of write it down. I think they have two reasons for this : they 

priests. (Jo not want their system published to the outside world, and 

they hope thereby to cultivate the memory of their pupils. 
The chief doctrine o\ the druids is that the soul o\ man does 



England before the English. 



33 



not perish, but has everlasting life, passing at the death of one 
body to renewed existence in the person of another. Thus 
they would incite courage by removing the fear of death. 
They have much lore concerning the stars and their motions, 
concerning the universe and the earth, concerning natural 
objects, and about the power and purposes of the immortal 
gods. Such things are the staple of their discussions, and it is 
learning of this kind that they hand down to their young 
disciples. 

Caesar found them worshiping many gods whom lie 
identified with Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Human 
Minerva, of the Romans. He describes their bloody 
sacrifices of human beings in their groves of sacred 
oaks. The oak, its leaves and acorns, were held in 
veneration, and it is said that the mistletoe, which grew 
upon its branches, was the sacred symbol of man, 




Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain. 

upheld and nourished by divine power. The island of 

Mona (the modern Anglesey) was a favorite school of 

the druids in Britain, and many hold that Stonehenge, ' Stonehenge 

the circle of gigantic stones which has stood on Salis- 

i Stonehenge is one of the most impressive and mysterious relics of British 
antiquity. It is a series of circles and ovals of monoliths, connected with 
various earthworks. Authorities differ greatly as to its huilders, its date, 
and its purpose, but the modern archaeologists think it was built by the 
druids and used as a temple before the birth of Christ. Human sacrifices 
probably took place here. 



54 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



bury Plain from time immemorial, was the sanctuary of 
the arch-druid, the prehistoric cathedral — so to say — of 
Britain. 

For a century after Caesar's invasion Rome had 
enough to do without extending her conquests in the 
West. To the Latin poets of that time the Briton, 
remote and unsubdued, served as the type of perfect 
freedom. But in 43 A. D. the Emperor Claudius re- 
sumed the conquest of "the isle beyond the world," 
and gained sufficient glory to receive a formal triumph 
and the title " Britannicus." Vespasian followed him, 

Cymbeline and and brought to Rome the British chieftain Caradoc 
Caradoc. ° 

(Caractacus) as a trophy. On viewing the splendor of 
the world's capital the noble barbarian exclaimed, 
"Strange that the owners of all this should envy us 
our miserable huts ! " 

In Nero's reign the strong arm of Suetonius Paulinus 
cleansed the druid-nest on Mona's isle, which had been 
the center of British resistance in the West, and then 
visited a terrible punishment upon the eastern Britons, 
who under the warrior queen Boadicea" had burned 
Londinium (London) and massacred thousands of the 
subjects of Rome. After this chastisement Britain 
accepted its destiny and became a province of the world- 
empire of the Caesars. 

Agricola, who was sent to govern the province in the 
year ;S, added Wales to the Roman domain, anil as a 
barrier to the savage Caledonians built a line of forts 
across the island from Forth to Clyde, reenforeing this 
by a second line of forts from Solway to the Tyne. To 

i Boadicea li.nl boon scourged, her daughters outraged, her people op- 
pressed ami plundered by the Romans. Her forces against Suetonius 
>.iiil to have numbered 120,000. A Roman historian describes her as a 
gigantic Amazon, with flowing red hair, stern features, and a voice like a 
trumpet-call. She wore a_ gay tartan and a military cloak, and brandished a 
heavy speai . The queen is said to h.w e poisoned herself after the rout of her 
army. 



The massacre 
ol Mona. 



Boadicea. 



A Rom, in 
province. 






England before the English. 35 



the southern Britons the rule of Agricola was a period 
of peace. They now began to adopt the Roman ways 
of life. Fortified towns sprang up at the mouths of the 
rivers j trade began to divide with agriculture and 
grazing the attention of the people ; the mines were 
worked to advantage, and the clothing and domestic 
arrangements of Rome were gradually adopted by the 
children of the woad-stained warriors who had con- 
fronted Caesar and followed Boadicea and Caradoc to 
battle. 

As the peace and prosperity of the province increased, 

its northern marches were the more threatened by Hadrian's 

• 1 • • visit - 

the untamed Caledonians. Hadrian, Rome's vigorous 

monarch, the memorials of whose travels were set up in 

nearly every province, visited the island (120 A. D. ) 

and gave orders for strengthening Agricola' s southern 

line of forts. The barrier was afterward improved and 

many times repaired. There are evidences that it was 

eighty years in building; ; and after fifteen hundred The Roman 

Wall 

years of decay, destruction, and neglect this relic of old 
Rome may still be traced throughout its seventy-three 
miles of windings from Wall's End to Bowness. ' 

Of the internal condition of the people during the 
centuries of Roman decay very little is known. The Relics of 
South enjoyed peace, and the northern walls afforded civilization, 
some protection against the assaults of the Picts and 
Scots — the latter a fierce tribe which had come from 
Ireland to fix its name upon North Britain. The plow- 
man, the grave-digger, and the delving builder of our 
own time contribute whatever information we have of 

1 The works consisted of a trench on the north sidej averaging thirty-six 
feet wide by nine feet deep ; a wall of stone eight feet high and eighteen feet 
thick ; fortified encampments at frequent intervals for troops, with strong 
watch-towers a fourth of a mile apart ; earthen ramparts and a trench ; and a 
system of fine .nilitary roads for facilitating the movement of troops to 
threatened points. It is said that it must have required a garrison of 10,000 
men. Other walls were built by later emperors. 



. 



the 
Romans. Plows 
hel - res of R cmans 

5 . - 

\ - - loors in Roman s 

lemnants of old R 

straig - x 5 strife 

In the § 

g 

X 
X 

----- - id — 

-.-..- ss the R g 

- a a a 

France, in Spain— R 
- - 

iguag lex- 

ningled s; tribes 

N - the R 

■ ~ - arnages 

3 

X 

\ - ■ a - 

■ 

- - . . I c - - 

ce them, s 








X 






- - 




• 












portion of the Roman realm, and, like them, she u.is 
overrun by tribes of heathen Germans, yet out of the 
long welter she emerges with not a trace of Roman 
manners and with scarcely a Latin syllable upon her 
lips. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIA1 STUDY. 
WITH 1 [BRARY NOTES. 

i. The Kaki v Bki ro\- 

Life in Marly Britain. A. C. Windle. 
The Story >>t" Early Britain. A. ]. Church. 
Early England. F. Y. Powell. 
Social England. Vol.I. H. D. Traill. 

I'll! RE! IGION AND 1 ANGl AGE OF 1IIF CE1 rS 

Celtic Literature. W. K. Sullivan. Art, in Ency 
Brit., Ninth Ed. 
Vestiges of Roman Civilization in Great Britain 
Romano-British Remains. G. 1 . Gomme. 

Fiction, Etc. 
The Count k>\ the Saxon Shore. A. J. Church. 
Daybreak in Britain. A. L. 0. E. 
Edol the Druid. W. 11 G.Kingston. 
Celtic Fairy fates. Joseph Jacobs. 



CHAPTER III. 

The English in Britain, 410 A. D. to 837 A. D. 
From the Roman Evacuation to the 
Rise of Wessex. 



The advance 
of the German 

" barbarians." 



Withdrawal 

ol Roman 



Throughout the fourth century there had been a 
mysterious drift of barbarian tribes across Northern 
Europe. It was perhaps another pulse-beat of the 
Aryan heart which in prehistoric times had brought the 
Greeks, the Latins, and the Celts into the lands in 
which the dawn of history found them. 

The vastly extended frontier of Rome was exposed 
to the attacks of these rough pagans, who were tempted 
by the wealth and weakness of the empire. To defend 
Italy and the Eternal City itself the outlying provinces 
were left bare. In 410 A. D. the Emperor Honorius 
recalled the legions which had manned the northern 
ramparts of Britain and guarded the Channel ports 
from the Saxon sea-wolves. Rome was past saving : 
while the fairest provinces of Italy, France, and Spain 
were overwhelmed by the barbarians, other Germanic 
tribes conquered Roman Britain and began the making 
of the English nation. 

It was in 449 A. P.. according to the chronicles, that 
The invaders of the Teutonic invaders first set permanent foot on British 

Britain. . * 

soil. They were Jutes, from the southern part of the 
peninsula now occupied by Denmark, although still 
retaining the name of Jutland. South of them and 
along the coast dwelt two nearly related peoples, the 
S.ixons and the Angles. The success of the first comers 

3s 



The English in Britain. 



39 



soon tempted these to similar migrations, which ended 
in Anglo-Saxon sovereignty, spreading over the island 
their English language and finally giving to it the name 
of Angle-land, or England. 

Vortigern, 1 British king of Kent, is charged with first 
admitting the Tutes into the island. The Picts harassed Thejutesin 

& J Kent. 

him, Rome could not protect him, and the German 
pirates plundered his seaboard. He conceived the plan 




Boat for Fourteen Pairs of Oars, found at X\ dam, Jutland. 

of playing off pirate against Pict, in the hope of destroy- 
ing both. Two Jutish chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, Hengistand 
accepted his terms, drove out the Picts (449 A. D.), 
but instead of retiring with their reward turned their 
swords upon the men of Kent. Horsa perished in the 
war, but Hengist lived long enough to establish a strong 
Jutish kingdom of Kent. 

Before the spirit of Hengist, the Jute, took its flight 
to Valhalla, reports of his rich prize had crossed the Ella and the 

1 T-11 1 r- -ii 11 South S v 1 

sea, and Klla, the Saxon, with three sons and three kingdom, 
ship-loads of buccaneers, had set sail for this land of 

1 The legend is that Vortigern promised Hengist the kingdom of Kent for 
his daughter's hand. The Kentish nobles protested, and Vortigern assembled 
three hundred of them in council. For each Britisli noble present there was a 
Saxon chief, and at a word from Hengist each Saxon plunged his dagger 
into a EritUh breast. So the kingdom passed to Hengist. 



4Q 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Welsh or 
outlanders. 



Cerdic founds 
the West Saxon 
monarchy. 



promise, no longer guarded by the Roman buckler. 
Landing- on the southern coast, they carved out a place 
for their kingdom of Sussex (South Saxony). Such 
terror of the Saxon name was burned into the Celtic 
mind that the English traveler still finds himself called 
a " Saxon" in Celtic Wales or in Celtic Scotland. As 
the British Celts called all these Teutonic invaders ' 4 Sax- 
ons," so the invaders 
had but one contemp- 
tuous term for all the 
islanders ; they were 
' ' Welsh " \ i. e., for- 
eigners or outlanders) 
to them, and Welsh we 
call their descendants to 
this da}-. 

The third English 
kingdom was destined 
to become the greatest. 
In 495 the Saxon Cer- 
dic came coasting down 
the Channel and fought 
the Britons near South- 




Jctish or Danish Mail-coat in vse 
Before 450 A. D. 



King Arthur. 



ampton Water. Though twice repulsed he gained 
ground at last and founded the kingdom of Wessex. 
To this day the blood of Cerdic, mingled with North- 
man, Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart, and Brunswick, flows 
in the veins of the sovereigns of England. It was this 
chief who in one of his campaigns was repulsed by a 
British chieftain, Arthur, 1 whose name is interwoven 



1 This famous British victory was at Badon Hill, near Bath. Arthur became 
the transfigured hero of a multitude of romantic legends and ballads, pre- 
served by the Welsh and other Celtic peoples. (Another theory makes the his- 
toric Arthur a chief of the northern Britons at about the same period.) The 
legendary Arthur sleeps mysteriously beside his magic sword Excalibur until 
the Celtic power shall rise again. 



The English in Britain. 41 

with the legends of that time, and has gained new luster 
in the poetry of our own. 

About London the Middle Saxons located (Middle- Middlesex and 
sex), and Essex, farther east, betrays the location of a Ess 
fourth Saxon state. 

The Angles, who were to bequeath their name to the 
whole land, settled in the valley of the Trent. Between 
the Thames and the Wash lay their kingdom of East East Angiia. 
Anglia, divided between the "north folk" and the 
"south folk" (now Norfolk and Suffolk). North of the 
Humber, and extending beyond the present limits of 
England, was Northumbria, at times a united and com- 
plete kingdom of the Angles, at another period under 
divided sway — Deira in the south and Bernicia in the 
north. In mid-Britain was the latest of these heathen 
states — Mercia, the border or marchland. The seven 
leading states, Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, East An- 
glia, Northumbria, and Mercia, have been grouped under 
the name of the Saxon Heptarchy (seven-fold state). TheSaxon 

t»i • r 1 tvt 11 Heptarchy. 

Iney were in no sense a confederacy. No sooner had 

they subdued the Britons than they began to fight 

each other, and the story of their interminable brawl - 

ings is a tangled and profitless tale. From time to 

time some powerful king made himself overlord (Bret- "Bretwaida." 

walda). ' 

The seventh century dawned upon a Britain one 
third of which was British, two thirds English. The 
Celts had retired into the hill country of the West, 
leaving the eastern plains and river-basins to the in- 
vaders. The Celtic lands were West Wales (now 
Cornwall), North Wales (the Wales of later times), Cellit fro,ltier - 

1 The seyeti Bretwaldas named by the early historian Bene are: Elle of 
Sussex; Ceawlin of Wessex ; Ethelhert of Kent, the fortunate husband of a 
Christian queen, and the first English monarch to be baptized; Redwald of 

East Anglia; Edwin of Northumbria, founder of Edinburgh, and his sons 
Oswald and Oswy. 



42 



Twenty Centuries of English History, 



Celt and 

Teuton. 



German 

religion. 



German 
political 
institutions 



Village com- 
munities. 



Cumbria (Lancashire and the "lake country"), and 
Strathclyde, lying on both sides of the Scottish border. 

It is time to inquire what manner of men were these 
early English who had now superseded the Romans as 
masters of Britain. 

The German invaders brought with them the re- 
ligion, government, and social system under which they 
had lived in the older Angle-land beyond the North 
Sea. ' Their religion was that of all the North German 
and Scandinavian tribes — a belief in many divinities, 
male and female. Woden, or Odin, the war-god, the 
ancestor of their royal family ; Thunor, the thunder- 
wielder ; Frea, giver of peace and plenty ; Saetere, 
little known to us, and Tiw, an avenging deity — all 
these names we, the children of the North, uncon- 
sciously commemorate in the Tiw's-day, Woden' s- 
day, Thor's-day, Frea's-day, and Saetere's-day of our 
calendar. Eostre, the English goddess of the dawn, 
strangely gives name to the Christian Easter. Nicor, a 
mischievous spirit, is the "Old Nick " of our colloquial 
speech. But beyond these names and certain local 
superstitions lingering obscurely among English peas- 
ants, the old religion has perished utterly. 

The early English system of government has proved 
more enduring ; the revolutions and changes of a thou- 
sand years have obscured but not quite effaced the prin- 
ciples which the English brought with them to their new 
abode. The German people were clannish. Those of 
the same name and family connection dwelt together, 
forming village commonwealths. The freemen of the 

i Sir Walter Besant puts this description of the English invaders into 
the mouth of a London Briton of the fifth century: "These devils, who 
had fair hair and blue eves and were of greater stature than our people, 
carried swords a yard long, and round wooden shields faced with leather. 
Some of them also had girdle daggers and long spears. They were 
extremely valiant and, rushing upon their foes with shouts, generally bore 
them down and made them run." 



The English in Britain. 



43 



Town- 
meetings. 



Witenagemot. 



village, the lesser "churls," and the more wealthy and 
influential "carls" met in town-moot or meeting to 
consider questions of public concern, and to try crimi- 
nals and award justice in disputes between freeman and 
freeman. ' Besides these freemen there were many serfs 
and slaves — the former personally free but without 
political rights, the latter captives in war or churls 
whom desperate poverty had forced to sell them- 
selves. 

The tribe, which was made up of a number of these 
village communities, had its ealdorman (alderman), King and 

°_ ■" council. 

and in their English conquests several tribes united 
under a king. The crown was partly hereditary, partly 
elective. It remained in one family, but did not pass 
by law from father to son. The elders, or wise men 
(witan), in their moot or meeting (witenagemot), 
selected from the men of royal blood the one best fitted 
to lead them in war and guide them in peace. This 
council of the elders met frequently, and besides elect- 
ing the monarch gave him advice in times of need. The 
king led the armed freemen to battle, and decided their 
most serious lawsuits in time of peace. He owned land 
like a common freeman, but he had likewise the man- 
agement of the public land, or folk-land. This he 
granted to his followers in return for service done — to 
his best lieutenants in war and to the trusted body- 
servants who formed his household, or court, and super- 
intended the details of his business. These thanes, or 
servants of the king, acquired such wealth and influence 
that they soon outranked the older aristocracy (the 

i For example, Irvington is the "ton " or village of the Irvings. The men 
of several villages held hundred-moots and tin- men of an entire tribe met 
twice a year in a folk-moot, for the settlement of important questions. "An 
ealdorman presided, the ciders spoke and the warriors listened and signified 
their opinion by shouting ' Aye ' or ' Nay,' and rattling their weapons." John 
Fiske points to these moots as the lineal ancestor of the New England 
town-meeting. — " Beginnings of New England." 



44 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



tails of the village commonwealths), and thane became 
a coveted title of nobility. 

From the architecture and domestic arrangements of 
Early English t ] ie Romans to the homely dwellings of the English was 

manners ana ° ° 

customs. a long step downward. The newcomers were agricul- 

turists and fighting men — not traders or city dwellers' — 
and active commercial intercourse between England and 
the Continent was interrupted for years. The farmers 
bred swine and horned cattle, and sowed wheat and bar- 
ley in the better soils. They lived in rough huts and 
halls of wood or stone, with no glazed windows, a hole 





Old English Glass Vessels. 

in the roof for a smoke-flue, beaten earth or flagstones 
for floor, with rushes strewn upon it for carpets. They 
sat at meat, instead of reclining in the Roman fashion, 
and they ate with knives of steel and spoons of iron 
or horn. They were none too nice in table manners, 
and the need of forks was yet to be felt. Beef and pork 
formed their principal food, washed down with copious 
draughts of ale and mead. They were hard drinkers 
and hard fighters, these early English, and their wild 
lives were usually cut short by battle or pestilence. 

l Their rude outdoor life seemed to have given them a distrust of civilized 
dwellings. They were superstitious about living in houses built for other 
people. When they captured the British towns they desolated them. 
Even London (Augusta), a citv of some 50,000 people, is thought to have been 
abandoned by its inhabitants and left in ruins for a generation. See Besant's 
" London." 



The English in Britain. 45 



Their tankards and drinking horns show few traces of Art 
artistic ornament ; and of the literature of this heathen 
time only two rude songs survive. 

The English differed in one important particular 
from the kindred nations which wrested France, Italy, 
and Spain from Rome. Those conquering races ^hc'ceit^ 
adopted the religion as well as the language, and to 
some extent the laws, of the conquered. Scarcely a 
British word survives in the English language, scarcely 
a Celtic line in the English countenance and character, 
and it was no British mission, but one straight from 
Rome, which first won the English pagans from their 
idols to the living God. The feeling between the two 
races was too bitter to encourage the British Christians 
to mission-work among the Saxons. The English in- 
vaders came slaughtering and burning, and the horri- 
fied Britons who escaped their axes and arrows fled 
westward, cursing the barbarous intruder. The British 
priest Gildas speaks with utter loathing of these blonde " ^ 1< ? nd s e „ 
butchers, "hateful not only to man, but to God him- 
self." Their souls were scarcely worth the saving. 
Four generations were born and buried before this 
horror died away, and intercourse between the peoples 
gradually obliterated differences of race. 

Yet the Christian remnant of the Britons sent out one 
famous missionary, St. Patrick, who led in the con- St. Patrick. 
version of the wild Irish Celts in the fifth century. 
From Ireland, which became the seat of an active 
Christian Church, missionaries lifted the Celtic cross in 
the heart of Europe, on the seacoast of Holland, and 
among those Picts who had once been the terror of the 
British Isles. St. Columba, the apostle of the Picts, St. Columba. 
founded a school and monastery on the Isle of Iona, 
which became a center of Christianity in North Britain. 



4 6 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



" Non Angli, 
sed angeli." 



Gregory the 
Great. " 



Canterbury. 

The mission of 
St. Augustine. 



Edwin of 

Northumbria 
converted. 



The tradition is that a young- priest was attracted by 
the faces of some fair-haired youths in the motley stock 
of the Roman slave market. "Who are these?" he 
asked of the dealer. "These are English — Angles," 
said the man. " What sweet faces ! Surely not Angles, 
but angels!" (no?i Angli, sed angeli), exclaimed the 
pitying priest. ' ' Whence come they ? " " From 
Deira. " il De ira/" was Gregory's Latin comment. 
"'From God's ire' verily they are snatched, and 
they shall come to know the mercy of Christ ! Who 
rules in that land?" "/Ella." The young man passed 
on musing, and straightway vowed that "Alleluia" 
should be sung in ^Ella's realm. Years after, when 
the young priest became Pope Gregory the Great, he 
kept his vow. 

Kent was the threshold of Britain, and Ethelbert, its 
pagan king, had married a Christian princess, Bertha, 
daughter of a king of the Franks. She was permitted 
to worship the Christian's God in the royal town of 
Canterbury. ' To her Pope Gregory commended his 
missionary Augustine (597 A. D.). Suspecting sorcery 
Ethelbert received the monks under the open sky. He 
accepted their doctrines and many of his court were 
baptized. Augustine was made archbishop of Canter- 
bury and pushed the work with all zeal. Essex turned 
from Woden to Christ. Bishops were appointed for 
London and Rochester. 

Edwin, king of Northumbria, was the next point of 
attack. He is the fifth Bretwalda of the old historians, 
though in his feeble boyhood it had seemed unlikely 

1 Augustine and his associates advanced in solemn procession to the 
momentous interview. A silver cross was carried before them; a richly 
adorned picture of Christ was borne after it ; the monks followed, chanting a 
prayer. St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, known as "the Mother Church of 
England," still exists, though many times rebuilt. Here Queen Bertha 
worshiped; here Augustine was allowed to hold service; and in the old font 
the king himself was baptized. 



The English in Britain. 47 



that he would ever rule even the kingdom to which his 
birth entitled him. 1 Edinburgh, on the Forth, was 
"Edwin's burg," or fortress, in the North. His queen, 
Ethelburga, was the daughter of Ethelbert, Augustine's 
royal convert, and she, like Bertha, was allowed to 
worship her mother's God in this heathen court. 
Paulinus, the queen's chaplain, preached Christ to the pauiinus. 
king in his witenagemot, before his priests and lords. 
Said a noble'" : 

So seems the life of man, () king: as a sparrow's flight 
through the hall when you are sitting at meat in winter-tide, 
with the warm fire lighted on the hearth, but the icy rain- 
storm without. The sparrow flies in at one door, and tarries 
for a moment in the light and heat of the hearth-fire, and then 
flying forth from the other vanishes into the winter darkness 
whence it came. So tarries for a moment the life of man in 
our sight, but what is before it, what after it, we know not. 
If this new teaching tells us aught certainly of these, let us 
follow it. 

King and witan were won over to the Christian side, 
and the aged high-priest Coifi led the band which Coifi 
desecrated the heathen temple. Thus began the con- 
version of the Northumbrians. 

Mercia became the rallying ground of the adherents 
of the old faith, and King Penda its defender. With Penda leads 
the aid of Cadwallon of Wales he made a fierce on- reac?ion. n 
slaught on the Christian states about him. Cadwallon 
was stopped by Oswald of Northumbria in the battle of 

1 lti his years of exile Prince Edwin, says the legend, was one day accosted 
by a stranger, who asked, " What reward will you give to him who shall 
deliver you from your troubles? " "He shall have my heartfelt gratitude," 
said the royal exile. "And what if he shall promise you power beyond that 
of any English king? " " I will give myself to him." "And if he tell of new 
doctrines of salvation will you give ear?" "1 will," said Edwin. The 
stranger laid his hand on the prince's head and departed. Vears alter, when 
he had triumphed over his foes, the monk Paulinus, for he was the mysterious 
stranger, claimed the fulfilment of the pledge, and the king consented to 
give the Gospel a hearing. 

2 Green's "Short History of the English People." 



48 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



The cross of 
[ona. 



Lindisfarne. 



i Iswj and 
Penda. 



St. Chad. 



St. Cuthbert. 



"Heaven's field." The cross on Oswald's standard 
owed its origin to the Celtic monks of Iona. Oswald 1 
owed his conversion to them and opened his kingdom 
to their missionary preachers, making Aidan its bishop, 
with his seat at Lindisfarne (the Holy Isle), near the 
mouth of the Tweed. Wherever Oswald carried his 
conquests he set up the cross. Wessex, already the 
preaching-ground of Gaulish monks, owned his over- 
lordship, and its king accepted his Christ. In 655 the 
Mercians were conquered and the last hold of paganism 
fell. 

From the landing of St. Augustine to the defeat and 
death of the pagan champion was scarcely sixty years. 
It was only in courts and towns and upon the cultivated 
few that the early preachers made their impression. 
The farmer on the moorland, the peasant in his hut, the 
miner, the shepherd, and the fisherman long lived in 
utter darkness until the self-sacrificing zeal of the monks 
brought the Gospel to their humble doors. The Abbey 
of Lindisfarne was the great northern school which 
trained many missionaries. Ceadda, or St. Chad (whose 
memory is still revered at Lichfield), was the evangel 
of middle England. St. Cuthbert" is the patron saint of 
the north countrymen. Melrose Abbey, in the Scottish 
Lowlands, was his mission station, whither he returned 
after long tours among the villagers. Himself a North- 

1 " One day King Oswald was dining when word was brought that a throng 
of poor people was seeking alms at his gate. He commanded the viands to be 
taken untasted from the table and distributed to them, and breaking in pieces 
his gnat silver bowl he gave the fragments to the beggars. The monk Aidan, 
who sat near, Seized the king's light hand and blessed it, saving. ' May the 
hand that has wrought this deed nevei deea) !' When the limbs of Oswald . 
slain in battle, were impaled on stakes and exposed, this blessed hand, Says 

the beautiful legend, was found uncorrupted." — A.J. Church. 

-' The cathedral church of Lichfield is dedicated to St. Chad. St. Cuthbert 
was one ol Aidau's disciples, and. judging troiu the scant accounts o( his lite. 
anothei Weslej lor his eagerness to instruct the common people in the truths 
ofthe Gospel. His remains were removed from Lindisfarne during the Danish 
raids and buried in the cathedral church of Dui ham, whose most precious relic 
they remain. 



The English in Britain. 



49 



umbrian shepherd boy, he was nearer to the hearts and 
lives of his people than were Augustine's Romans or 
even the Irish monks of Iona and Lindisfarne, and his 
broadcast sowing brought a rich harvest. 

The English Christians of the seventh century were 
not united. Each kingdom had its independent bishop ™ mt | ynod of 
and clergy. While the southeastern churches looked 
up to the Roman pope, as they had been taught by 
Augustine and his Canterbury monks, the North, into 
which had shined the clear light from Lindisfarne, 
acknowledged the supremacy of the Celtic Church, 
which St. Patrick had nurtured in Ireland and St. 
Columba had revived in Britain. The protracted iso- 
lation of the Irish and Roman branches had given rise 
to bitter differences. The controversy concerned only 
such slight matters as the date of Easter, form of ton- 
sure,' and minor ceremonials, but while it lasted it was 
an evil, and King Oswy of Northumbria did well to 
bring it to an end. In 664 he summoned representa- 
tives from Iona and Canterbury to the monastery of 
Whitby, and bade each party to set forth its case. His 
decision for the Roman usages cleared the way for the 
unification of the English Church. Theodore, a Greek Theodore of 
whom the pope consecrated archbishop of Canterbury "Founder of 
(668), brought order and system into the religious England." 
establishment. His far-seeing eye laid off the English 
kingdoms into dioceses, each in charge of a bishop, each 
bishop subject to the primate or archbishop of Canter- 
bury. (It was not until after Theodore's death that the 
northern dioceses were gathered into a second province 
under the primacy of the archbishop of York.) The 
wandering preachers gave place to local parish priests, 

1 The Roman tonsure (the mark of a priest) was a shaven circle on the crown 
of the head. The Celtic priests wire required to shave all the hair in front of 
a lint- drawn over the top of the head h inn ear to ear. 



50 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Far-reaching 

results. 



No'thumbria. 



Caedmon. 



" The Vener- 
able Bede." 



and churches and chapels, monasteries and schools were 
multiplied. For eight hundred years the Church of 
England, the center of its education and literature, 
acknowledged the pope of Rome as its earthly ruler. 
The result was twofold : England was again linked to 
the Continent, whose nations were now all Catholic 
Christians, and the unification of the English Church 
prefigured and expedited the unification of the English 
kingdoms. 

The English conquests at Britain began in the middle 
of the fifth century (449 A. D.) ; they were substan- 
tially completed by the middle of the sixth, when three 
fifths of England was divided among seven superior and 
a half-dozen lesser Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Then fol- 
lowed the successive rise of separate states to temporary 
preeminence. Oswy extended the supremacy of North- 
umbria over Cumbria (now Lancashire and Westmore- 
land), and then (685), in battle with the Picts, lost his 
life and his country's position. Although Northumbria 
was no longer chief among English states it was a leader 
in religious and literary development. Here was Lin- 
disfarne, ever reappearing in early history ; Whitby, 
the home of the poor cowherd Caedmon, the Anglo- 
Saxon poet, whose ' ' Song of the Creation ' ' is among 
the earliest trophies of English literature ; Wearmouth, 
whence apostles of the Gospel did foreign mission work 
in Europe ; and Jarrow, a sacred house famous for its 
monk Beda, " the Venerable Bede." 1 He was the most 

1 Beda (Bede or Bseda), deservedly called "the Father of English History," 
was born about 673 at Monkwearrnoulh and spent his studious life in the 
monasteries there and at Jarrow, hard by. His marvelous industry mastered 
all the learning of his time, and the titles of his forty written works form a 
veritable encyclopedia. His "Ecclesiastical History" is the most valuable 
of his extant writings. He translated portions of the Bible out of priestly 
Latin into the language of the common people, and on his death-bed dictated 
an Anglo-Saxon version of St. lobn's Gospel. His remains once rested in 
Durham Cathedral, where his tombstone is still shown with the now lying 
inscription: Hac sunt infossa Beda venerabilii ossa. 



Wessex. 



/ 



The English in Britain. 51 

learned man of his time, versed in Greek, Latin, He- 
brew, and his mother tongue, the Low German dialect 
of the Angles. The fruits of his study were many 
books, the most valuable to us being a Latin history of 
the English Church, the most dear to him and his 
countrymen being, doubtless, the Anglo-Saxon version 
of the Gospels, which employed his last hours. 

Mercia, in the Midlands, awakened from heathenism 
to new life, and, still ruled by a prince of Penda's Merciaand 
Woden-descended line, aimed to reach the high place 
from which Northumbria fell. Wessex, on the south 
coast, the kingdom which Cerdic founded, became the 
chief rival of Mercia. The lesser kingdoms bowed now 
to Mercian, now to West Saxon, overlordship. The 
former reached its culmination under King Offa (755- v 

794). His weak successors were overmatched by King >» — if 

Egbert, the great West Saxon. In his youth Prince *^* 

Egbert had been a fugitive from his native land and, had Egbert, 
sojourned for a time on the Continent at the court of 
the Frankish Karl (Charlemagne), whose power was 
reviving memories of imperial Rome. That splendid 
court, thronged with statesmen, warriors, and scholars, 
afforded brilliant training to the exile. In 802 Egbert 
won back his kingdom. By masterly ability he strength- 
ened Wessex and subjected the adjoining states. The 
old title of Bretwalda was revived and bestowed upon 
him, but he was more powerful than any of his Mercian 
or Northumbrian predecessors, and fairly merits the 
title of "First King" of the English." He was not ,,„. .... , 

o o First king of 

the only king in England ; the old Saxon kingdoms «02_|'" glish ' " 
retained their petty monarchs — some were merely tribu- 
tary to Egbert of Wessex, some were under his personal , 
government ; but now for the first time since Hengist « 
and Horsa plunged through the surf to the beach at 



52 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Ebbsfleet all England was in some degree answerable 
to a single ruler. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

i. The English in their Continental Home. 
The Making of England. J. R. Green. 
Lectures to American Audiences. E. A. Freeman. 
Germanic Origins. F. B. Gummere. 

2. The Mythology of the Germans. 

The Vikings in Western Europe. C. F. Keary. 
Teutonic Mythology. Rydberg. 

3. Legends of King Arthur. 

Le Morte D' Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory. 
Idylls of the King. Tennyson. 

4. Anglo-Saxon Language and Customs. 

History of Early English Literature. Stopford Brooke. 
Anglo-Saxon Britain. Grant Allen. 

5. The Conversion of the English. 

Fathers of the English Church. Frances Phillips. 
Fiction, Etc. 
Imogen. Emily S. Holt. 
The Early Dawn. Mrs. Charles. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The English and the Northmen, 837 A. D.- 

1066 A. D. — From the Supremacy of the 

West Saxons to the Norman Conquest. 

Before the close of the eighth century the wild 
rovers from the forests and fiords of Northern Europe Fresh advance 
renewed their raids upon the nations of the South. 
The history of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries 
runs strangely parallel with that of the third, fourth, 
and fifth. In the earlier period the Roman Empire was 
overrun by German barbarians ; in the later era these 
German settlers, now civilized and Christianized, had in 
their turn to meet the heathen hordes from Scandinavia. 
The Englishmen who had mastered Roman Britain now 
met, and after a stout and protracted resistance yielded 
to the Danes. 

It was in 787 A. U., according to the ancient chroni- 
cle, that the Northmen first landed in the island. 1 At viki,, s s - 
first they seemed bent on plunder only, and the English 
treated them as pirates. These "vikings" (men of 
the viks or bays) came in long ships driven by oar and 
sail, and more skilfully handled than any vessels of the 

1 The entry in the Saxon Chronicle under 787 is : " In these days there 
came for the first time three ships of the Northmen to the land of the 
Herethi [Dorsetshire?]. The king's lieutenant rode thither and would have 
made them come to the king's house, for he knew not who they were. But 
there was he slain. These were the first ships of the Danes that came into 
England." Several viking ships have been unearthed in modern times. One 
found in a mound at Gokstad, South Norway, in 1880 was seventy-eight feet 
long, pointed at both ends, had a mast and sixteen pairs of oars, and was 
ornamented with shields placed along the gunwale, thirty-two on each side. 
The owner had been buried in his vessel, and with him lay his weapons and 
the remains of twelve horses, six dogs, and a peacock. 

53 



54 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



Danish 

conquest of 
it eland. 



South. Single chiefs at the head of swift squadrons 
swooped down upon unguarded harbors of Western 
Europe and escaped with their booty. Although the 
earlier Danes made no attempt at a conquest of Eng- 
land they soon seized upon outlying portions of the 
British Isles The Orkneys, Shetlands, and Hebrides, 
with portions of the Scottish Highlands and a large part 
of Ireland, were made tributary to Danish princes, and 
the early story of Inland — her church and civilization — 




Shits oh- ihk Nortiimkn. From the Bayeux tapestry. 



was lost in the confusion of wars with the heathen 
Northmen. At times the Danes allied themselves with 
the Welsh for a combined assault upon the English, 
and it was such a mixed force that Egbert, the great 
Hengesterdun. West Saxon, defeated in his famous fight at Henges- 
terdun (835) in Cornwall. 

The successors of Egbert could not maintain his grip 
upon the English kingdoms, ami some of them had 
much ado to hold their own realm of Wessex against 
the downpour of Northmen. Their ships came almost 
yearly, ami they were only beaten off with heavy loss. 
In 851 an armada of three hundred and fifty Danish 
vessels entered the Thames and burned the great 



From foraj to 
settlement. 



The English and the Northmen. 55 



trading town of London and the sacred city of Canter- 
bury before King Ethelwolf could hurl them back to 
their ships. The monasteries of the North were 
favorite prey of these pagan pirates. The abbeys of 
Wearmouth and Lincoln, Ely, Peterborough, and 
Croyland were plundered and burned, and their pious Plunder of tin 

1 l abbeys. 

inmates ruthlessly massacred. Soon the buccaneers 

changed their tactics and came with their wives and 

children to conquer and dwell in English lands. Their 

sagas, or traditions, preserved in Icelandic literature, 

are fanciful tales of these Norse heroes. In 866 they 

mastered the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercian 

To Edmund, the last king of East Anglia, they offered 

his freedom if he would bow the knee to Woden. He 

defied them, and was put to death by torture. His 

constancy won the admiration of his subjects, and in 

the lapse of years, when the pagans had given up their 

gods for the Gospel, a splendid abbey was built above 

the grave of "Saint" Edmund, the martyr king. 1 st. Edmund. 

Elated with their triumphs, the lords of half Britain 

rushed upon Wessex. But they found their match at 

Ashdune (871), where King Ethelred, with his young 

brother, Alfred, beat them with great slaughter. The 

death of Ethelred in this same year brought Alfred, the 

last of Ethelwolf s sons, to the throne. 

King Alfred, " the Great," was twenty-one years old 
when he faced the responsibility of defending and ruling 
his kingdom. There still exists a life of this English 
king, written by one who knew and loved him well. 
His grace and beauty made him the favorite in the 

1 Edmund, having been defeated in battle, was pulled Out of his hiding- 
place under a bridge. When he refused to abjure his Christianity the sea- 
wolves bound him to a tree and made him a target for their arrows before 
cutting off his head. The shrine erected over his remains at St. Edmunds- 
tuny two hundred years later by King Canute became one of the chief holy 
plai is of medieval England and the resort of many pilgrims. 



King Alfred. 



56 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



group of young princes, and his father had further dis- 
tinguished him by sending him to Rome, at five years 
of age, where Tope Leo IV. consecrated his flaxen head 
for the crown it should one day wear. The prince had 
a busy brain, a strong arm, a marvelous memory, and 
loved books as he did the chase. In the first year of 
his reign he fought one doubtful battle with his ever- 
returning enemies, and then enjoyed a few years of res- 
pite while they were strengthening their hold upon the 
northern kingdoms. In 876, however, the Danes beset 
Wessex in great force, and could neither be bribed nor 
expelled. Alfred, hard pressed, fled from his palace. 1 
The freemen of the South rallied to the standard of the 
good king at Athelney, where he raised a fort among 
the marshes, and whence he sallied forth in the spring 
of 878 to successful battle. Guthrum, the Danish king, 
)>:- u ; eot agreed to the peace of Wedmore and was baptized into 

\\ edmore. ° 1 1 

the Christian faith. The peace saved Wessex, but rec- 
ognized the Danish sovereignty of almost the whole of 
England north of the Thames valley, the territory called 

rhe Dane-law. t ] le Dane-law. 

The history of most of the early kings is either blank 
or crowded with battles. Alfred was as great in peace 
as in war, and greater in nothing than in the moral 

, purpose which pervaded all his activity. "To live 

rhe glory of ' ' \ . ' .. . 

Alfred. worthily" was his motto. He dexised a more effective 

1 While .1 fugith e in the wilds of Somersetshire he entered the Inn of a cow- 
herd and sat by the hearth making ready his bow and arrows, heedless that 
the housewife's cakes were burning under his very nose. His neglect sot him 
the famous scolding, "Why dost thou tarry to turn the cakes which thou 
seest burning, seeing how glad thou art to eat them when they ate baked?" 
A priceless treasure of Oxford University is a golden bracelet curiously 
wrought, which may have belonged to the king. It bears the Anglo-Saxon 
legend, Azlfred tnek h \ ("Alfred had me wrought"). NearUffing- 

ton in Berkshire is White Horse Hill, so called from a huge figure of a horse 
370 feet Ions cut in the chalk. -down. It is said to commemorate Alfred's vic- 
tory over the Panes at Ashdune. It is graphically described in "Tom 
Brown's Schooldays," and Gold win Smith says of it: "The most important 
monument of the Anglo-Saxons is really the White Horse. This is the trophy 
of a great victory gained by the Saxon over the Pane, by Christianity ovei 
heathendom. . . . It deserves homage more than any Arc de Triomphe." 



The English and the Northmen. 57 



military and naval system. From the law-codes of the 

several English kingdoms he selected the best laws for 

his own people. To the administration of justice in the 

law-courts he gave personal attention, reviewing the 

derisions of the aldermen and thanes who sat as judges, 

and enforcing their awards and penalties upon the more 

powerful offenders. The king took note oi all the 

activities of his people; he invented a clock for marking 

time by the burning of candles ; he improved their 

methods of building, and suggested new and better 

processes in the handicrafts. The ignorance that had 

drifted in upon the island with the coming of the Danes A promote! ■< 

learning, 
vexed him sorely, and he labored like a monk to shed 

abroad a little of learning's light. 1 The king himself 
translated into the Wessex dialect the histories and 
religious books of the venerable Bcde, and Latin his- 
tories of Europe and works on natural history and 
travel. Scholars came from the Continent at his invi- 
tation to revive a taste for learning among the English, 
and the sons of his nobles were carefully educated under 
the royal eye. By him, or by his direction, the inval- 
uable "English Chronicle," a yearly record of events J^e "English 

J _ J Chronicle. ' 

on the island, was compiled from existing annals. Kind 

of heart, simple in tastes and manner, strong of will, 

was this first English hero, who died in the first year of 

the tenth century, and at the threshold of the twentieth 

it must be confessed that no English monarch has since 

surpassed him in his fitness to rule. 

Of Alfred's live children, only one, Edward the Elder, 

wore a crown ; one daughter, Ethellled, married Ethel- Edwardthe 

red, alderman of Mercia, and another daughter became 

1 Alfred s;iys that when he came to the throne there was not a man in 
England south of tlie Thames who could translate from Latin into English. 
Among Alfred's translations into the vernacular were lionks on the duties oi 
a Christian minister, a history of the world, Bede's church history, and Boe- 
thius's "Consolations of Philosophy." 



5 s Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Countess of Flanders and grandmother of Matilda, the 
wife of William the Conqueror. Edward ruled twenty- 
four years (901-925 1, and reaped the fruits of Wedmore 
peace. That treaty had saved Wessex from the Dams, 
and Alfred's military and administrative reforms had 
laid the foundations of a stronger government than any 
yet known in the island. Edward took the offensive, 

Ethelfled. and with the aid of his sister Ktheltled, the "Lady of 

the Mercians," won back the greater part of the Pane- 
law. The Danes of this region had settled down beside 
the English, adopting their religion and fitting them- 
selves easily to the English ways of life. The two races 
were of kindred ancestry and spoke closely related lan- 
guages : neither had been influenced by contact with 
Roman civilization. The lasting hatred which kept 
Briton from Englishman was unknown between Saxons 
and Danes, whose Christian children, dwelling peace- 
ably on adjacent farmsteads, forgot the burnings and 
massacres of their heathen fathers. Over this mixed 
people of the North Edward gained lordship. All 
Britain — English, Danish, Welsh, Scotch — was subject 
either to him or to sub-kings who acknowledged his 
superiority. 

Atheistan. Edward' s flaxen-haired son, Athelstan (925—940), 

worsted the Danish viking Anlaf in the Battle of 

Brunanburgh. Brunanburgh, ' the hardest yet fought on English 

' Anl.w 's allies were Danes Prom Ireland ^ with six hundred ships), Con- 
stantineol Scotland, Owen ol Cumberland, and other Celtic chieftains. The 
S icon minstrels long celebrated the deeds of that day in such rugged lines as 
these : 

'* This year King Athelstan, the Lord of I i 
Ring-giver to the wai i iors, Edmund too, 
His brother, won in fight with edge of swords, 

long renown at Brunanburgh. fhesons 
Of Edward cla\ e with the forged steel the wall 
01 linden shields, rhe spirit of their sires 
Made them defenders of the land, us wealth; 
Its homes, in main a fight with many a toe. 
1 ow lav the Scottish foes and death doomed lay 
fhe shipmen ; the field streamed with warrior's blood," etc. 



The English and the Northmen. 59 

ground. His notable reign helped to make the Eng- 
lish kingdoms feel their community of interest, while it 
brought the royal family into new relations with the 
outer world. Hu^h Capet, the founder of a long line Links with 

o 1 ■> o , ,,m mental 

of French kings, was his nephew, and Otto the Great, dynasties. 
the German emperor, was his brother-in-law. To 
show his own independence of the empire, which then 
claimed sovereignty over Western Europe, the Saxon 

king called himself emperor {imficrator) of Britain. An English 

l ' cm] ion 11. 

This "emperor" had been Alfred's favorite grand- 
child, and in him was some of his grandsire's wisdom. 
He made it easier for the yeoman to obtain justice in 
the law-courts, and made provision to relieve the wants 
of the poor. 

Athelstan's brothers, first Edmund and afterward Edmundand 

, , Edred. 

Edred, succeeded him. The latter reduced the once 
powerful Danish kingdom of Northumbria to a subject 
earldom and called himself " King of the Anglo-Saxons 
and Emperor of Britain." He was guided in his policy 
of empire by Dunstan, a monk of Glastonbury, who was, Dunstan. 
so to speak, the first prime minister of England. By 
his counsel, doubtless, was arranged the impressive 
coronation scene when the two archbishops, represent- 
ing the United Church of England, jointly placed the 
crown on Edred' s head, while representatives of all 
the island races, British, Danes, and English, shouted 
approval. In the next reign the great abbot was in dis- 
grace, but the revolution which brought Edgar to the Edgar, 
throne (959) placed Dunstan again at the head of the 
council board. As archbishop of Canterbury he was 
the actual ruler. The conquered Danes were treated 
like Englishmen, and their best men held high rank in 
church and state, however much the Saxons growled at 
the primate's "preference for upstart aliens." A royal 



6o 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Foreign trade 



The monastic 
establishments 



i dgar's.crew 
of kings. 



navy, manned by the descendants of the vikings, 
guarded the English coasts and protected English com- 
merce in the Channel ; for a lively trade had sprung up 
between London and the French and Flemish cities, 

the English metals 
and farm products 
finding ready ex- 
change for their fine 
cloths and manufac- 
tures. 

This intercourse 
with Europe bore 
fruit in the church 
also, and Benedictine 
monasteries, pat- 
terned upon those 
abroad, were founded 
in England. Monks, 
cut off from the world 
by their vows of pov- 
ertv, chastity, and 
benevolence, devoted 
themselves to the 

St. Dunstan at the Feet of Christ. 
From a drawing by Punstan's own hand, in works of the cllUI'ch. 
the Bodleian Library. 

1 he monasteries ac- 
quired great tracts of land, whose tillage brought vast 
wealth. The monks were the only scholars, and their 
libraries ami schools were the only sources of learning. 
Quarrels between the favored monks, of whom Dunstan 
was the champion, and the slighted parish priests alone 
ruffled the peace of the kingdom. The Welshmen paid 
yearly tribute of three hundred wolf scalps, so says an 
old story, until the supply failed. A crew of vassal 
kings, says another boasting Saxon, manned the barge 




— ' ' '-* 



The English and the Northmen. 61 

which King Edgar steered from his palace at Chester, 
on the river Dee, to the Church of St. John. The 
death of this "British Caesar," in 975, plunged the 
prosperous realm into a wretched strife over a disputed 
succession. 1 Ethelred, a wavering lad nicknamed "the 
Unready,"' was eventually placed on the tottering 
throne. 

Since Brunanburgh the Northmen had left troubling 
England and had built up in the mainland their three 
kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark ; but 
toward the close of the tenth century their fleets again 
crossed the shallow German Ocean, bent on adding 
England to their Scandinavian empire. The "rede- Etheired 
less" Ethelred, lacking the spirit of his ancestors who theUnread y- 
had vanquished the same foes, levied a tax, the hated 
Dancgelt (Dane money), upon his people to buy im- Danegett 
munity. This tempted fresh incursions. Though the 
cowardly king declined to take the field, brave English- 
men, aldermen, and commoners, even bishops, fought 
in defense of their own homes. Lack of union made 
the resistance futile. The more the king paid for peace 
the more peace he had to buy. Thirteen times in 
eighteen years parties of Northmen ravaged the dis- 
tracted island. On the thirteenth of November, 1002, 
the weak and rash king gave the signal for the massacre The massacre 

& fe *» of St. Bnce s 

of all the Danes in England. Among the victims was Da v- 
a sister of Sweyn (Svend "Fork-Beard"), king of 
Denmark and Norway. 

Burning for revenge, the powerful Dane gathered all 

i King Edgar left two sons, Edward, aged thirteen, and Ethelred, aged 
seven. Dunstan had the elder lad crowned, but after a few years the queen- 
mother Elgiva procured his assassination to make way for her little son 
Ethelred. Dunstan is said to have made this direful prophecy at the latter's 
coronation : " The sin of thy mother and of the men that conspired with her 
in her wicked deed shall not be washed out but with the blood of many ; and 
there shall come upon the English people such evils as it has not suffered 
from the day that it came hither until now." 

2 Redeless. without rede or counsel. 



62 



Twenty Centuries or' English History. 



Conquest of 
England by 
Sv e> ii and 
Canute. 



Edmund 
"Ironside. 



Canute s 
refoi ms, 



his resources for the chastisement of the English. The 
island was burned and harried as never before, the 
agony lasted for a dozen years, but by neither bribes 
nor alliance with the Norman-French duke, his most 
powerful neighbor, could Ethelred avert the doom he 
had precipitated. His son and successor, Edmund 
"Ironside" (1016), made a brief but valiant stand. 
but his death left the field to the Danes. Sweyn seems 
not to have been crowned, but his worthy son Canute 1 

( C n u t ) , was 
recognized as 
t li e kin g o f 
England, as well 
as of Denmark, 
Norway, and 
part of Sw eden. 
He strove to be 
a n E n g 1 i s h 
kin^. No dis- 
tinction w a s 
ma ile between 
_- the Dane a n d 
English in the 
land. He en- 
riched and 
strengthened 
the church, although it had been the center of the 
national resistance, and he honored Edmund, the martvr- 

i ["he Ovmsh Kings oi England. 

SWEYN (Svend "Fork-Beard), 

a. ioi.). 
I 

Caniii- i CiuiO Kmnui o! Normandy, 
i. 1017-1035. widow of Ethelred. 




Canute and His Queen. 



I 
Swej n 



Harold I., 
r. 1035-1040. 



Hardicanute, 

: -lO.)'. 



The English and the Northmen. 63 

king, by dedicating to his memory the shrine of St. 
Edmundsbury. "The laws of Edgar," as the people 
called the system <>t' government which Dunstan had 
established in the reign of that good king, were re- 
stored. 1 For better government, he divided the English Four . English 

° earldoms. 

realm into four powerful earldoms: Wessex, Mercia, 2 

East Anglia, and Northumberland. 

After Canute's death (1035) the great earls took 
, , , .... . .An English 

advantage 01 the quarrels 01 Ins sons to increase their kingoutof 



power. Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who became the 
principal man of the kingdom, eventually raised to the 
throne Edward, the weak son of Ethelred. This prince 
had been reared among the Normans, and he sur- 
rounded himself with foreign courtiers. 

1 After Canute's pilgrimage to Rome in (027 he addressed a pious letter to 
the English bishops, nobles, and nation, in which he declared his vow " to 
God himself to reform my lite in all things, and justly and piously to govern, 
. . . determined through God's assistance to set right anything hitherto 
unjustly done," etc. The fruits of this " conversion " were seen in legislation, 
(1) reforming the administration of justice, (2) prohibiting the sale of Chris- 
tians into slavery abroad, (3) forbidding paganism, and aiming to suppri 
its relics of superstition and witchcraft, (4) ameliorating the tax-levies and 
game-laws. For an interesting description of his religious foundation in 
honor of St. Edmund see Carlyle'S " Past and Present." 

The well-known story of Canute and the ocean was first told by Henry of 
Huntingdon, from whom A. J. Church makes this version : " In the very 
height of his power, he bade set his chair on the shore of the sea, when the tide 
was flowing, and to the tide he said, ' Thou art my subject, and the land on 
which 1 sit is mine, nor hath there ever been one that resisted my bidding, 
and suffered not. 1 command thee therefore that thou come not up on mj 
land nor presume to wet the garments and limbs of thy lord.' Put the sea, 
rising after its wont, wetted without respect the feet and legs of the king. 
Therefore leaping back he said, ' Let all dwellers on the earth know that the 
power of kings is a vain and foolish thing, and that no one is worthy to beat 
the name of king save only Him whose bidding the heavens and the earth 
and the sea obey/ Nor ever thereafter did King Canute set his crown of gold 

upon his head, but put it forever on theimageol out Lord, which was nailed 
to the cross." 

sOfGodiva (Godgifu), wife of Earl Leofric of Mercia, the tale is told that 

when she begged her husband to remit an oppressive tax he made the con- 
dition that she should ride naked through the town of Coventry at noon. She 
complied, taking care to have all doors and windows closed, and all citizens 
indooi s. 

"And one low churl compact of thankless colli 

The fatal byword of all years to come, 

Boring a little auger-hole, in (car 

Peeped —but his eyes, before they had their will, 

Were shrivell'd into darkness in his head, 

And dropt before him. So the Powers who wait 

On noble deeds cancelPd a sense misused, 

And she, that knew not, passed." 

— Tennyson^ f Godi ■ 1 



Normandy, 



64 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Earl Godwin became the leader of a strong party 
"Eneiand'for wnose rallying cry was "England for the English!" 
the English!" j-[ e exercised great influence at court, married his 
daughter to the king, and secured earldoms for his 
nearest of kin. Once his Norman rivals supplanted 
him in the king's favor, but he lived to see their expul- 
sion and his own son Harold directing the affairs of the 
realms. 

Earl Harold, Godwin's son, combined the statesman- 
c. , „ , , ship of his father with a military talent of his own. While 

tail J iarolu ~ ■> 

ol Wessex. Edward was busy with his chaplains founding churches 

and monasteries — the Abbey of Westminster 1 among 
them — Harold fortified his own position by giving earl- 
doms to his brothers and leading the English armies. 
That he was the actual ruler of England did not escape 
the ambitious Duke William of Normandy, who kept 
keen watch from his neighboring duchy. In 1064 Earl 
Harold, with his vessel, was cast by mischance upon the 
French coast and became William's enforced guest. 
William afterward declared that Harold had then sworn 
promis/to to support his claim to the English crown at Edward's 

William. death. It is said that the duke outwitted the earl by 

smuggling sacred relics under the table on which the 
oath was taken, so as to increase the sanctity of the 
agreement. 

Edward died in 1066. The priests, his friends — and 
biographers — mindful of his benefactions, have called 
him "St. Edward" and "The Confessor." He left 
no son. Of the direct line of Cerdic only Edgar, a 
stripling, and Margaret, a girl, survived. William of 

1 The abbey church was built in the Norman style on the site of a humble 
Saxon church which had suffered at the hands of the Danes. It was com- 
pleted about 1065, and with few exceptions the English sovereigns since 
Edward have been crowned within its walls. It has been several times re- 
built, but parts of the original fabric remain in the pyx-house, the substructure 
of the dormitory, and " the Dark Cloister," so called. See Stanley's "His- 
torical Memorials of Westminster Abbey." 



The English and the Northmen. 65 



Normandy claimed the crown by right of his mother's 
blood, Edward's pretended promise, and Harold's ex- 
torted oath. Harold had the advantage of being on 
the scene. The dying king seemed to designate him 
for the throne, though predicting for him a brief and 
doleful reign. The council recognized in him a strong 
man who might cope with the difficulties of the realm. 
So Earl Harold, "the last of the Saxons," was chosen 
king of England, and crowned in the new abbey church 
of Westminster. 

Harold's reign fulfilled St. Edward's direst prophe- 
cies. Two mighty foes gathered to crush him. His Harold, king of 

r . ... . the English. 

own brother, Tostig, leagued with the king of Norway, 
the adventurous Harold Hardrada, 1 for the reconquest 
of England. The Norse fleet with the Scotch and 
Irish allies entered the Humber, to be routed at Stam- The Northmen 

... . . defeated at 

ford Bridge in Yorkshire- by the English Harold. Stamford 

. . Bridge. 

The most stubborn foe was yet to face. William the 
Norman, claiming the throne by right of inheritance 
and pledge, branding Harold as perjurer and usurper, The Norman 
spurring the Normans to avenge Godwin's insults, and 
possessing Pope Alexander's blessing as a missionary 
to the corrupted English Church — uniting conflicting 
parties by these specious claims — had gathered an army 
and crossed to Pevensey on the south coast. 2 King 
Harold returned in haste from Stamford to meet him. 
William's motley array of fortune-seekers picked up 

1 Harold Hardrada ("stern in counsel ") was one of the greatest of Norse 
kings. A seeker of adventure from early youth, he had lived at the Russian 
court, had commanded the viking life-guards of the eastern emperor at 
Constantinople, had visited Jerusalem ami the Mediterranean countries, and 
after a most romantic history had come to the throne of his ancestors, the 
kings of Norway. He was a giant in stature, and the English Harold is said 
to have replied to his demand for the surrender of England that " he might 
have of English soil six feet — yea, seven — for a grave." He was killed at 
Stamford Bridge, with the greater part of his men. 

2 William's fleet consisted of single-masted, undecked vessels, of about 
thirty tons burden. His own ship, the Mora, had for a figure-head a golden 
boy, his right index-finger pointing toward England, his left hand pressing a 
horn to his lips. 



invasn 



66 



["he battle of 
Hastings 

( Sen lac C 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



from all France and half Europe attacked the English 
position on Senlac Hill, near Hastings, on October 14, 
1066. Much was against the Normans. Their leader 
had encouraged them with the pope's blessing, but on 
landing he had stumbled and fallen on his face. 
Rising, his hands full of sand, he cried to his horrified 
attendants. "See! by the splendor of God, the Eng- 
lish soil is already in my grasp." In the desperate 
charges upon the English yeomen his courage, audacity, 
and constancy were everywhere apparent. " The duke 
is dead." cried a hard-pressed battalion. "I live!" 



ill 



.•••-'v. 



William Sailing to England. From the Bayeux tapestry. 



William the 
Conqueror. 



cried William, lifting the visor of his helmet, "and by 
God's help I will conquer." Conquer he did. Harold 
and his body-guard stood by the golden dragon banner 
of Wessex all day long, until near sunset a shaft from a 
Frenchman's bow pierced the king's eye and lie fell. 1 
His English died around him, and that night William, 
the Norman duke, who ate and drank and slept on the 

1 The beach where the Conqueror landed is now a cultivated Geld. " The 
castle on the cliff at Hastings marks the spot where lie first planted his 
Standard. The ruins of Battle Abbey, the religious trophy of the Conqueror, 
are still seen and the site of the high altar exactly marks the spot where the 
Fatal arrow entering Harold's brain slew not only a king, but a kingdom, and 
marred the destiny of a race." — Goldurin Smith. Legends sa\ that Harold's 
body was found on the field by " Edith >'( the Swan-neck," a former favorite. 
It was fust buried under a cairn on the cliff at Hastings, and afterward re- 
moved to a tomb in the Abbes ol Walt ham, which he had built. 



The English and the Northmen. 67 



field among the slain, was the real master of England. 

The witan named as Harold's successor a young son l ^, l ,;; 1 ,''. n ! 
of Edmund Ironside, but there was no iron in his com- 
position, and he and his English adherents soon begged 
the duke to take the crown, as Harold's rightful suc- 
cessor. On Christmas Day, 1066, the archbishop of 
Canterbury set the crown upon the head of William the 
Conqueror. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The Vikings. 

The \ iking Age. Paul du Chaillu. 

Norway. H. H. Boyesen. (Story of the Nations 

Series. ) 
The Making of England. J. R. Green. 
The Vikings in Western Christendom. C F. Keary. 

2. Alfred the Great and His Times. 

Alfred the Great. Thomas Hughes. 

Early Britain. A.J. Church. (Story of the Nations 

Series. ) 
Social England. Part I. H. D. Traill. 

3. The Last of the Early English Kings. 

The Norman Conquest. E. A. Freeman. 

4. The Battle of Hastings. 

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. Creasy. 
The Normans. S. O. Jevvett. (Story of the Nations 
Series.) 

Fiction, Etc. 
Harold. Tennyson. ( Drama. ) 
Harold. Bnhver. (Novel.) 



CHAPTER V. 

The Norman Kings, 1066 A. D.-1135 A. D. — From 

the Accession of William I. to the 

Death of Henry I. 

The conqueror and his followers were themselves of 
ofthe°No™fn northern blood, only a few generations removed from 
paganism. The viking Rollo had ravaged the banks 
of the Seine until Charles the Simple, king of the 
French, had been forced to grant to him the lands 
about the mouth of that river (912). In return for this 
territory Rollo gave up his wild life, acknowledged the 
sovereignty of Charles, wedded a princess, and settled 
down to enlarge the province he had secured. These 
Northmen, or "Normans," soon adopted the religion, 
manners, and language of the country. Under Rollo' s 
descendants Normandy became one of the most power- 
ful of the several dukedoms which made up the French 
kingdom, 
wniiam of William, 1 who succeeded to the ducal coronet in 

Normandy. 1035, was the seventh ruler in direct line from the 

viking Rollo. A boy with a manful spirit, he had 
hewn his way through appalling obstacles to the chief 
place among the nobles of France. As an iron duke he 
had hammered his own turbulent barons into a sem- 

i William's mother was a tanner's daughter. When he was seven years old 
(1035) his father, Duke Robert, setting; out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sep- 
tilcher, compelled his nobles to recognize the boy as his heir. During his 
minority they murdered his guardians, attempted his life, fortified their castles, 
and tried to establish their independence. At twenty, with the help of the 
king of France, he waged war on them and made himself their master. After 
a stormy courtship he married (1051) Matilda of Flanders, a descendant of 
Alfred the Great of England. 

6? 



The Norman Kings. 69 

blance of order. Indomitable will and great political 
sagacity fitted this man above all others to undertake 
with a few raw troops the conquest and government of 
England. 

The battle of Hastings did not complete the conquest, 
neither did the surrender of Edgar, the English prince, or's national 
and the coronation of William firmly establish the 
Norman system. Yet the king dared to leave his new- 
won kingdom and hasten over to Normandy, where the 
Duchess Matilda ruled the barons as regent. To his 
brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, 1 and his friend, William 
Fitz Osborn, he entrusted England in his absence. The 
king's policy was to treat the English as' his legal sub- 
jects, not as a conquered people. By his own assertion 
he was the true successor of Edward. By the same 
reasoning Harold's followers were traitors to their right- 
ful king, and their possessions were forfeited. These 
lands and houses William granted to the Normans, 
"who had come in with the Conqueror." His brother 
Odo and Fitz Osborn lacked the breadth of their _. . . .,. 

Odo ami 1- Uz 

master's views, and no sooner was his back turned Osborn. 
than they began to persecute the unhappy English for 
their own advantage. Money, lands, and houses were 
wrung from the wealthy without distinction of guilt or 
innocence. Such tyranny aroused the slumbering spirit 
of resistance. Only a fragment of England had followed 
Harold at Hastings. The people of the northern earl- 
doms cared little if a Norman should take from the Earl 
of Wessex the crown which his ambition had usurped. 
There was no such national feeling for Godwin's son as 
still survived for Ethelred's children, Edgar and the 

1 In the town-house of Dayeux in Normandy is preserved a strip of linen two 
hundred feet long by twenty inches wide, on which are worked in colored wors- 
teds fifty-eight scenes from the life of William the Conqueror, including the 
voyage to England and the victory. This celebrated " Bayeux tapestry " is 
said to have been wrought by the Duchess Matilda herself. 



70 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Princess Margaret, now the wife of Malcolm, king of 
Scots. But these new tyrannies touched the life of the 
people. Every Englishman of wealth was liable to 

suffer at the hands of the Normans. The signal of 
revolt went through the islam!. The earls of the North 
rose, relying upon the promised aid of a Danish fleet. 
Malcolm of Scotland added his support. The western 
rebels found allies in the Welsh. In the eastern fen- 
lands, upon the borders of the Norman territory, the 
outlaw Hereward, "the last of the English," held the 
isle of Ely with desperate valor. William returned to 
face the tempest. The Panes, the mainstay of the in- 
surrection, he bribed into inaction. He succeeded in 
isolating the other centers of rebellion and crushing 
them severally. The king of the Scots was forced to 
admit William as his overlord, and Northumbria was 
reduced to a desert. 

The Conqueror, having broken the spirit of the 
English, next applied himself to the government of his 
new realm. Local self-government was the basal prin- 
ciple of the political system which he found in England. 
The free people of a village met together to settle for 
themselves all minor political matters and to decide 
suits at law. The same system was applied to groups 
or "hundreds" of these villages; and a number of 
"hundreds" formed the shire or county, with its shire- 
moot, or court, where representatives of the "hun- 
dreds" met to hear appeals from the lower courts. The 
officers of this shire-court were the alderman, bishop, 
and "shire-reeve," or sheriff. The alderman was tin- 
representative of the nation, a sort of lord-lieutenant ; 
the reeve was the king's personal officer, and the bishop 
attended to points of church law. The judges, or rather 
the jurymen, were the freemen assembled in the court. 



The Norman Kings. j\ 



Jf a convicted man appealed from the judgment of the 
hundred-court to the nun of the shire he might take ° rileaIs - 
the "ordeal," or judgment of God, proving his inno- 
cence by walking unshod over hot iron or eating of 
poisoned cakes. 1 In general the accused brought "com- 
purgators," men who swore to his innocence and gen- 
eral character for good. The "compurgators," or 
oaths-men, of the plaintiff swore to the contrary, and r .. . , 

1 J Judicial 

the assembly of freemen compared the weight, not of matters, 
evidence, but of the two parties of compurgators. In 
early times "an earl's word balanced six common churls 
[freemen] and one alderman's testimony outweighed a 
township's oath." Punishment was commonly by lines, 
paid not to the state, but to the injured party. Above 
the shires of England was the king, and to him in his 
council of great men — the witenagemot — the man might 
appeal from the judgment of the lower court. The 

11 . The royal 

royal power was, however, ill-defined. Through many power, 
changes it had grown to its full proportions under such 
ambitious rulers as Canute and Harold. These later 
sovereigns were kings of England as well as chieftains 
of its people. The public land — once the common 
possession of the whole folk — had come to be consid- 
ered the private property of the monarch, and he might 
dispose of it at will, the witan assenting. Those who 
received land from him, and many who received none, 
became his thanes or vassals, owing him service. The 

, . .... . . Thanes. 

greater thanes he summoned to his witenagemot with 
the abbots and bishops. With this body he made laws, 
laid taxes, deliberated on peace and war, and appointed 

i Queen Emma, the mother of Edward the Confessor, having been accused 
of a crime, purged herself of the guilt by treading barefoot and unhurt upon 
nine glowing plowshares. In memory of the deliverance she bestowed nine 
manors upon a church. The theory of the ordeal was that God would perform 
a miracle to save the innocent from harm. It existed in many forms among 
Teutonic people, ami is still practiced by barbarous African tribes as a test of 
witchcraft. 



72 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

the officers of state. The system of thaneship extended 
throughout society, the smaller landowners and even 
landless freemen agreeing to do service to an overlord 
or thane in return for his protection. Some of these 
thanes seem to have acquired authority as magistrates 
to try lawsuits between their dependents or in the towns 
( "burgs" or "boroughs") which sprang up on their 
lands. Again, certain towns had purchased from their 
overlord, or from the king, the privilege of holding their 
own courts, subordinate to the shire-moot, but of equal 
authority with the assembly of the hundred. To this 
brief statement it should be added that the English 
shires wire allotted among four earldoms — the four 
powerful earls being chosen by king and council from 
among the royal thanes. 

In Normandy the feudal system was carried to its full 
. r , ,- , . extent. The king" of France was, in theory at least, 

The feudal £> ' - 

s >' stem - lord of all the land, and every man who held a foot of 

soil rendered military service for his fief as vassal to 
some overlord. The dukes held their duchies directly 
from the king, and so long as they paid the stipulated 
services they were supreme in their own dominions. 
These domains were similarly subdivided. The duke — 
himself a tenant of the king — granted his lands to barons, 
or lesser vassals, on similar terms of faithful service. 
,, , , The tenants of the barons also did service for the estates 

Landlord and 

tenant. they held. In each case, from duke to smallest farmer, 

the same ceremonies and terms prevailed. The land held 
was the "feudum," or "fief"; the vassal, or "man," 
swore fealty (fidelity) and did homage, placing his bare 
head in his lord's hands, and on bended knee vowing to 
become "his man" through all perils. This was "feu- 
dal tenure," and property thus held passed, with the 
attendant obligations and privileges, from father to son. 



The Norman Kings. 73 



In France this haul and social system was also a means 
of government. For with the land the king granted 
jurisdiction over its inhabitants, and duke and baron 
each held his own manorial court, in which the lawsuits Manorial 

courts. 

of his dependents were tried. Each tenant of the king 
was bound to contribute a certain number of armed men 
to the royal army ; and these soldiers of the dukes and 
barons were frequently employed in private wars, one 
baron against another. The whole system imperiled 
national unity, for the king himself, when standing 
alone, had less power than any one of a half-dozen of 
his proudest vassals. It was by feudal tenure that Duke 
William held Normandy from the king of France, and 
by the same system his quarrelsome barons held of him. 
We shall see how he and his successors combined the 
old Saxon system with French feudalism. 

When the English landowners who fought for Harold 
were declared guilty of treason their lands reverted to William com - 

. . bines the Nui- 

the crown. The rebellions against the Conqueror re- man and En S - 

.... _ - , lish feudalism. 

suited in the confiscation of nearly all the remaining 
English estates. With these William founded his feudal 
system — granting them on feudal terms to the Nor- 
mans of his train. For a hundred years not an English 
name appears in the list of barons. He did not transfer 
the continental system to the island unchanged. The 
semi-independence of the four great English earldoms 
which he had encountered warned him against granting 
too extensive fiefs. Instead of four earldoms he created 
nearly forty — an earl to a shire — and where he would 
show especial honor by granting him extraordinary 
possessions he took care that the lands of any one man 
should be well distributed over England. Warned like- 
wise by the continual wars of his own barons in Nor- 
mandy, he exacted from all freemen, at a meeting at 



The Salisbury 
Oath. 



74 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Salisbury (1086), the oath of allegiance to himself as 
sovereign, thus making it treason for any to obey his 
lord contrary to the king. William thus became the 
real head of the English people, not simply the feudal 
sovereign of a few great barons — his " tenants-in-chief." 
He further laid his hand upon the acts of the people by 
defining the sheriff's duties, and making him the officer 
who attended to the king's fees and revenues in the 
county courts. While he gave to the barons juris- 
diction over their tenants, it was provided that appeal 
should run from the baron to the hundred-court and to 
the king. The old village courts were left intact, trial 
by battle ' for Norman offenders being added to the 
The council of usual ordeals. In place of the Saxon assembly of wise 

barons. ' J 

men (witenagemot) William gathered about him a great 
council of his feudal barons, who now superseded the 
English thanes. In this also sat the high officials of the 
church, and a committee of this body, called the curia 
regis (court or senate of the king), acted as a high 
court of appeals. The Anglo-Norman system, there- 
fore, was feudal in its tenure of land, but English in its 
recognition of local self-government. Through it all 
stretched the strong arm of the king, exacting taxes 
from noble and commoner alike — all classes alike doing 
him homage and owing him service. 

Socially the Conquest transformed England. At the 
Social trans- head of societv stood the king and his Norman barons — 

formation. . ' , 

proud of their possessions on both sides of the Channel, 
despising as barbarous the common Englishmen and 
their Anglo-Saxon tongue. French was the spoken 

1 This was in fact a legal duel in which the innocence or guilt of the accused 
person was " proven " by a free and (air combat. An accused lord often sent 
one of his men to fight in his stead, and " priests and women were ordinarily 
represented by champions." This method of trial was invoked as late as 1818 
to save a murderer's life. The other ordeals were abolished by law in the 
reign of Henry III. 



The Norman Kings. 75 

language of the conquerors, though the lawyers and 
priests wrote a degenerate Latin. The English thanes 
disappeared after the early rebellions, being deprived 
of their lands, and so pressed down into a lower 
social grade. The middle-class Englishmen, dwellers 
in towns and coining into frequent contact with the 
foreigners, soon met them on ecpial terms in trade 
and society. The lowest class, the serfs and slaves, 
suffered little from the change of masters, and clung 
persistently to the language and manners of the Anglo- 
Saxons. 

The Conquest gave new political power to the church. 
The Conqueror entrusted the primacy to Lanfranc, ' the 
most learned abbot of Normandy. The reigning pope, 
Gregory VII., the celebrated Hildebrand, was bent on 
compelling all Christian monarchs to acknowledge the 
headship of the papacy in things temporal as well 
as spiritual. This William swore he would not do. 
"Peter's Pence" he would faithfully pay, but homage popeand 
for England's crown he owed no man. He willingly 
forbade the priests to marry, and allowed Lanfranc to 
engraft the strict rules of the continental monasteries 
upon the lax religious establishments of the island. 
Bishops' courts were set up in each shire to decide 
offenses against morals or religion. But he ordered 
that without his royal leave no pope should be acknowl- 
edged in England, no papal bull be read, no bishop 
appeal to Rome, and no royal tenant be excommuni- 

i Lanfranc was a Lombard, born and educated in Northern Italy. He set- 
tled in Normandy as a schoolmaster and was nearly forty years of age before 
he became a monk. His talents soon made him prior of the monastery of Bee, 
where his school numbered some of the most celebrated men of the age. For 
opposing the duke's purpose he was ordered to quit the duchy, but on the road 
be fell in with William himself, atid got into his good graces. He was the 
Conqueror's chief adviser in all matters relating to the reorganization of the 
English Church. A fragment of the Canterbury Cathedral, as rebuilt by him, 
is still visible. 



7 6 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Hildebrand 
baffled. 



The Barons' 

Revolt. 



Robert's insur- 
rection. 



" Domesday 
Book." 



cated. Thus William thwarted Hildebrand' s 1 scheme of 
including England in his universal empire, and thus the 
trenches were dug for the foundations of an English 
national church free from papal domination. 

Not all of these changes were completed in William's 
reign, but the beginnings of most of them are found 
there, though their course of development runs through 
more than a century. In his own lifetime the king's 
hands were full. The barons of England were galled by 
his yoke. In Normandy they had been almost inde- 
pendent of their duke, but the modified feudalism of 
England placed them directly under the sovereign's 
control. He had hardly checked their revolt when a 
fresh trouble summoned him across the Channel. His 
paternal duchy he had promised to his son Robert in 
case the attempt on England proved successful. But 
the king repudiated the promises of the duke. ' ' I shall 
not strip till I go to bed ! " was the answer he flung at 
his reproachful son. The breach of faith cost him a 
long war with Robert's partisans. 

It was in these years that a great assembly on Salis- 
bury Plain ordered every free man to swear direct and 
immediate allegiance to the king as his own sovereign. 
The "Domesday Book" dates from this period. It 
was compiled "(i) to give a basis for taxation ; (2) 
to serve as an authority by which all disputed land-titles 
might be settled ; and (3) to be a census and muster- 
roll of the nation." At the royal command census- 
takers went to the head men in every shire, borough, 



1 Hildebrand (Gregory VII.), the greatest of the popes (1073-1085), made the 
holy see independent of emperors and kings, and made all ecclesiastics, from 
the humblest parish priests to the proudest archbishops, accept the supremacy 
of Rome. Before his time the popes had been dependent upon the German em- 
peror, and the patronage of the church in every country had been in the hands 
of the temporal ruler. His plan, which he failed to realize to its fullest ex- 
tent, would have made the Roman pontiff the supreme ruler of Christendom, 
temporal as well as spiritual. 



The Nor hi an Kings. 77 



parish, and manor and asked these questions : "What 
is the name of your township? Who was lord thereof, 
bishop, or abbot in the reign of Good King Edward ? 
How many thanes, how many freemen, and how many 
serfs are there ? How many acres and what were they 
worth in the Confessor's days? What property has 
each freeman ? ' ' etc. The answers were collected by 
the royal clerks and written down in the book called 
"Domesday," 1 which still exists, an invaluable exhibit 
of the condition of the kingdom of England in the year 
of our Lord 1086. 

The Conqueror's end was at hand. While besieging , , 

^ . Death of 

a French town in 1087 a fire-brand from a blazmg William, 
building caused William's horse to swerve, throwing his 
corpulent rider heavily upon the pommel of his saddle. 
At Rouen the Conqueror breathed his last. Many 
prayers and much confession came from his thick lips 
in the closing hours. His eldest son Robert was 
assuredly to have the Norman inheritance ; England he 
had wrongfully conquered he confessed, but he hoped 
God would permit his second son William to rule 
there ; for Henry, the scholarly son, there was a 
certain treasure of five thousand silver pounds ; the 
remainder of his goods the priests and monks should 
have for the poor and the church. So he died, deplor- 
ing his wicked deeds and boasting of his benefactions. 
His sons hastened from his bedside to secure their 
inheritance, and the monarch's remains were thrust 

1 " Domesday," or " Domesday Book," is the popular name for several 
volumes containing the record. " The first volume is a large folio written in 
double columns on 382 double pages of vellum in a small, clear character. 
The second volume is in quarto on 450 double pages of vellum, single column, 
in a large, fair hand. The survey was so minute, says a contemporary, ' that 
there was not a single hide or vardland, not an ox, cow, or hog that was not 
set down.' " The accuracy of the record made the book the test of all dis- 
puted land-titles. In popular phrase, its sentence was as authoritative as the 
day nfjudgment (doomsday), hence its famous name. The original manu- 
script is preserved in good condition in the Public Record Office in London. 



78 



Twenty Centuries, of English History. 



nW;-i 100. 



into a humble grave in the Norman church of Caen. 

William Rufus (the Red) made straight for England. 
im Rufus, Lanfranc pronounced for him and the assembly of 
nobles was prevailed upon to name him as king. The 
barons who held estates on both sides of the Channel 
were restless under a divided sovereignty. In Nor- 
mandy they did as they pleased with the visionary Rob- 
ert, but in England they had to deal with a choleric and 
tyrannical master. The Red King was bold, prompt, 
and fearless. He lacked his father's self-control, and 
for the Conqueror's moderation exchanged a reckless 
extravagance and profligacy. 

His ambitious uncle Odo, whom the Conqueror had 
imprisoned, now conspired with the barons to pi. ire 
Robert in the Red King's seat. William rallied the 
old English element against this project, and with an 
English army he quelled the earlier outbreak and a later 
plot which sought to crown his cousin Stephen. 

Three parties divided the England of those days — the 
king, a foreigner ; his barons, rich and powerful, but 
rebellious against the overshadowing authority of their 
sovereign ; and the mass of the common people. The 
impact of these forces struck out the spark of English 
liberty. A king hard-pressed by his barons would yield 
concessions to his people in return for their assistance, 
and the barons, tyrannized by the king, would unite 
with the people to force the king to terms. By such 
indirect means the cause of English freedom was ad- 
vanced. 

The king's wild way of life soon dissipated the treas- 
ure in the Conqueror's coffers, and his ministers were 
required to swell the revenue. They had recourse to a 
new form of tyranny. The English Church owned a 
large share — some say one fifth — of all the landed prop- 



Three parties. 



The Norman Kings. 79 



erty in England. Bishops and abbots were feudal 

princes like the secular barons, and did military service Plundering 

r J the church. 

for their lands. As they were unmarried monks their 
estates were not hereditary, and vacancies caused by 
death or removal were filled by the king. Prompted 
by Bishop Ranulf of Durham, he now allowed vacant 
abbacies and bishoprics to go unfilled for years together, 
their revenues meanwhile being converted to his own 
purse. In this way the highest offices in the church lay 
vacant. Even the see of Canterbury had no head for 
four years after Lanfranc's decease. But an illness, 
which dragged William to death's door in 1093, seemed 
to his superstitious mind a judgment for his wickedness, 
and he compelled Anselm. 1 abbot of Bee, in Normandy, 
to become archbishop. This Anselm was a worthy Anselm. 
successor of his friend Lanfranc. But their ways were 
not the same. Both were high-minded men, profoundly 
learned, and devoted to the Christian Church ; but Lan- 
franc was a man of the world as well as of the cloister, 
and could lead and control the rough, unlearned Nor- 
man nobles as well as gentle scholars. Anselm's world 
was one of books and meditation, and lay far from that 
of the headstrong William, whose recovered strength 
was put to its first use in a close-locked struggle with 
the quiet but unflinching monk. The question at issue 
was the supremacy of king or pope, and Anselm ranked 
the pope's authority above the monarch's. After four Church against 

r ' J crown. 

years of obstinate debate the archbishop withdrew to 
Rome and William greedily pounced upon the rich 
revenues of Canterbury. Neither side gained a victory, 
but the noble example of a single freeman resisting the 

1 St. Anselm (he was canonized about 1494) was an Italian who hail drifted 
into Normandy, and coming within Lanfranc's influence had become a monk. 
He was one of the earliest and ablest philosophers and theologians of the 
Middle Ages, and a gentle, kindly, high-minded chui > hman. 



8o 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



encroachments of a king was not lost upon the nation, 
which had some questions of the same kind accumu- 
lating for settlement at no distant day. 

William Rufus had agreed with his brother Robert 
that on the death of either the dominions of both should 
be united under the survivor. In 1096, however, the 
duke joined in the first crusade. To equip his quota 
for the expedition to Palestine he borrowed ,£6,666 of 
his brother William's ill-gotten gains, pledging his 
duchy of Normandy in payment of the loan. While 
the duke was absent the king made friends of the Nor- 
man nobles, and se- 
cured a firm hold 
upon the duchy. 

At home the king's 
acts of oppression 
multiplied. "Never 
day dawned," says 
one gloomy historian, 
' ' but he rose a worse 
man than he had lain 
down ; never sun set 
but he lay down a 
worse man than he 
had risen. ' ' Yet Wil- 
liam the Red was no 

Thk White Tower (Tower of London). ™, , . 

savage. 1 he castles 
and churches that he built are noble structures, as he 
may testify who has looked upon the ancient portions of 
the Tower of London and Westminster Hall. ' 




1 In every large town the Normans built castles to overawe the inhabitants. 
The Tower of London was such a fortress, built by Gundulf, bishop of Roch- 
ester, for the Conqueror himself, and remains a splendid example of Norman 
military architecture. Westminster Hall, " the great hall of William Rufus," 
as Macaulay terms it, was rebuilt three centuries after the death of the Red 
King. It now forms an entrance hall to the Houses of Parliament. 



The Norman Kings. 



81 



The Conqueror "did heartily love the tall deer," said 
a writer of his time. The chase was his chief sport, and 
in Hampshire he cleared the tenants from a vast range 
of farm-lands and woodlands to make the deer park, 
which still retains its first name, "the New Forest." 1 

The evicted English cursed the king for his cruelty in 
taking their lands, as well as for the cruel forest laws, 
by which he kept the game for his private pleasure, and 
they predicted that the New Forest would be fatal to his 
line. But William Rufus feared nothing. He was a 
mighty hunter, and often rode with his bowmen after 
the deer-hounds. One day, when he had ridden afield 
flushed with wine, the forest curse fell upon him. His 
huntsmen found him dead under a tree with an arrow in 
his breast. No one knows whose bowstring drove the 
arrow to its mark. Dying unshriven, he was buried 
without Christian services at Winchester, the old West 
Saxon capital, and even after his dishonored body rested 
in the earth the tower of the abbey church above it fell 
in ruins, betokening, so wagged the English tongues, 
God's righteous wrath. 

Prince Henry himself was of that merry hunting 
party, and when they told him of his childless brother's 
death he spurred his horse to Winchester, seized the 
royal treasure, and demanded the crown. By the old 
agreement his elder brother Robert was the rightful suc- 
cessor, but Robert was far away. Promptness gained 
the day, and in the words of his proclamation, "by 
God's mercy and the common counsel of the barons of 

l The ancient chronicle says of " New Forest " and the Conqueror's passion 
for the chase: " He planted a great preserve for deer, and he laid down laws 
therewith, that whosoever should slay hart or hind should be blinded. As 
greatly did he love the tall deer as if he were their father. His great men be- 
wailed it, and the poor men murmured thereat ; but he was so obdurate that 
he recked not of the hatred of them all, but they must wholly follow the king's 
will, if they would live or have land or property, or even his peace." The 
New Forest, which was made at the cost of so much hardship, still covers a 
tract of over one hundred square miles near Southampton. 



The accursed 
forest. 



Death of the 
Red King. 



Henry I., 

1 1 oo- 1 135. 



82 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



" Beauclerc. 



the whole realm of England," he was crowned king. 
The Red King's rule had been so hateful and his own 
title was so doubtful that the new king was forced to bid 
high for popularity. A paper, or "charter," was 
granted by the monarch to the nation. He pacified the 
barons by releasing them from many of the feudal 

assessments on their 
manors ; better laws 
— those of the vener- 
ated Edward the 
Confessor — were 
provided for the 
common people, and 
the church was prom- 
ised immunity from 
the depredations of 
the preceding reign. 
As an earnest of good 
Great Seal of Henry I. intentions, the king 

recalled Archbishop Anselm from Rome, and, himself a 
native of England, he took to wife the Saxon princess 
Edith, henceforth called Matilda, the daughter of the 
king of Scots and great-grandchild of Edmund Ironside. 
His partiality for the islanders was such that the Nor- 
mans, taunting him with "Anglomania," nicknamed the 
royal pair "Goodrich and Godiva." Henry I.'s sur- 
name, "Beauclerc" (the Scholar), was not won by any 
marvelous achievements in learning, but by the contrast 
between his tastes and those of his father. Until his cor- 
onation Henry had lived a life of pleasure on his estates 
in Normandy ; but throughout his reign he exhibited the 
force and wisdom of his race. Order was his first law, 
and he cared less for fresh conquests than for the submis- 
sion of his father's subjects to his own undisputed will. 




The Norman Kings. #3 



In iioi Duke Robert invaded the island, claiming his 
inheritance, and many barons did him homage and led jg*£2j d * nd 
their retainers to his camp ; but Henry, supported as ™^ ™ de ' 
William had been by an English army, and wielding a 
powerful weapon in Anselm's threat of excommunication > 
against the rebels, bought peace. Robert gave up 
England, and kept Normandy, receiving a yearly pay- 
ment from the king. The peace was brief. Henry's 
vengeance pursued the rebel barons across the Channel 
and took his brother captive, making himself master 
of all the Conqueror's dominions. 

If the union of England and Normandy was the event 
of Henry's reign, the quarrel with Anselm and the i„ ve stUure. 
quest for an heir were its absorbing political ques- 
tions. The ecclesiastical struggle was not unlike that of 
Rufus's reign. Both pope and king claimed the right 
of ' ' investiture ' ' (the ceremony of presenting to the 
newly elected abbot or bishop the staff and ring which 
betokened admission to the temporal possessions — 
authorities, lands, and revenues— belonging to the 
office). For the king to surrender this right to any 
foreign power, even to the pope himself, meant the 
introduction of a dangerous element into the state. 
Anselm went into exile rather than yield, but Henry 
recalled him and the dispute was compromised, each 
side retaining a cheek on the action of the other. 

Henry's hopes for a successor were bound up in the 
person of his beloved boy William, "the Atheling," as j^'-;J he 
the English called this son of the Saxon princess, and 
from the day when the White Ship bearing the prince 
went down (1120) in the Channel the monarch was 
never seen to smile. No woman had yet ruled in Eng- 
land, yet the king compelled his barons to swear 
allegiance to his daughter Matilda, the widowed empress 



84 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



of Germany. To save her Norman dominions from the 
neighboring counts of Anjou, he wedded her again 
(112S) to the count's son, Geoffrey the Handsome, a 
gay Frenchman, from whose habit of decking his cap 
with a sprig of common broom {p/anta genista) sprang 
the family name " Plantagenet. " The fruit of the 
union was a son, and before his death (1135) the king 
had the satisfaction of seeing his nobles repeat their 
oath of fealty to Matilda and his grandson Henry, a 
babe in arms. 

The miseries of the next generation caused the people 
to look back with regret to the "good old times " when 
Henry I. was king. Yet he had been at heart a despot. 
The reforms which he had promised and the smaller 
number which he had executed were made in the inter- 
est of better order and increased revenue for his own 
comfort and enrichment. He had little respect for the 
lives and fortunes of his subjects. Yet it so happened 
that his selfish policy produced internal peace and really 
improved the system of justice. The next reign was 
anarchy, but the little Plantagenet whose birth we have 
just recorded was destined finally to come to the throne, 
anil in a long and useful reign to develop the crude 
forms of his grandfather's time into the well-regulated 
government of Henry II. the statesman. 



TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

The Norman CONQUEST. 

William the Conqueror. E. A. Freeman. 
The Normans. Sarah Ornejewett. 
William Rufus. E. A. Freeman. 
The Conquest of England. J. R. Green. 



The Norman Kings. 85 



The Norman Builders. Castles and Cathedrals. 

History of Architecture. James Fergusson. 

English Cathedrals. M. G. Van Rensselaer. 
The Church under Hildebrand. 

Hildebrand and His Times. \Y. R. W. Stephens. 

Holy Roman Empire. J. Bryce. 
The Normans in Western Europe. 

The Normans in Europe. A. H. Johnson. 
Fiction, Etc. 

Hereward the Wake. Charles Kingsley. 

A Camp oi' Refuge. Charles MacFarlane. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Rise of the Barons, i 135 A. D.-1216 A. D. 

— From the Accession of Stephen to the 

Death of John. 



Stephen of 
Blois, 1 135-1 154. 



In the story of the twenty years that followed the 
death of Henry I. it is easy to find justification for the 
iron rule of the Norman kings. The moment the scep- 
ter fell from Henry's grasp hopeless anarchy seized 
upon the realm. 

Among the Norman- English barons who swore fealty 
to the "Empress Matilda" and little Henry Plantage- 
net was the Conqueror's grandson, Stephen 1 of Blois. 



1 The Conqueror's Children. 

(Showing descent of Matilda and Stephen and the Plantagenets.) 

WILLIAM I., 

"the conqueror," 

reigned 1066-1087. 



I 

Duke Robert, 

d. 1 134. 



WILLIAM II., 
" Rufus," 

r. 10S7-1100. 



Henry, 

THE YOUNG KING, 

d. 1183. 



I 

HENRY I., 

r. 1100-1135, 

m. Edith (Matilda) 

of Scotland. 

I 

Matilda, 

" THE EMPRESS," 

111. (2) Geoffrey, 

" PLANTAGENET," 

( 'ounl of Anjou. 

HENRY II., 

r. 1154-1189, 

King of England, 

m. Eleanor of Aquitaine. 



Adela, 

111. Stephen, 

1 'ount of 

Blots and Chartres. 

I 

STEPHEN, 

< 'ount of Blois, 

King of England, 

r. 1 135-"54. 



I 
RICHARD I., 
cceur de lion," 
r. 1 189-11 99. 



Geoffrey, 

father of 

Prince Arthur. 

d. 1 186. 



JOHN, 
r. 1 199-1216. 



The Rise of the Barons. 



87 



He was a Frenchman, gay, gallant, hearty, ready with 
sword or song. Matilda and her foreign husband were 
distasteful to the great feudal lords of England. Ste- 
phen offered himself promptly as a candidate, and hav- 
ing the support of the Londoners was aceepted. He 
was crowned at Westminster, and, having secured the 
royal hoard, hired an army to defend his claims. Like 
his predecessor, he dazzled the nation with empty prom- 
ises of reform. The barons cared little for the rights of 
either claimant. They were quick to recognize that the 
accession of either a woman or an easy-going courtier 
was their opportunity. The administration of the law 
grew lax. Bad barons built strong castles on their lands, 
whence they might sally to rob the traveler, or wage 
war upon the neighboring earl or abbot ; even the good 
nobles — if such there were- — must needs fortify their 
houses to protect themselves from the outlaws and rob- 
bers. Thus the land was dotted with private fortresses. 1 
Foreign invasion and civil war were added to the 
terror. David, king of Scots, espoused his niece 
Matilda's cause, and hacked and burned his way into 
Yorkshire, until checked at Cowton Moor, August 22, 
1 138, in the battle of the Standard, in which arch- 
bishops, barons, and people united. The discomfiture 
of the Scots was complete, the English conquering under 
a standard which upheld a sacred wafer in a silver 
box. With the next year came Matilda herself and the 

1 The contemporary writer says : " They filled the land full of castles. They 
cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle-works. When the 
castles were made they filled them with devils and evil men. Then took 
they those men that they imagined had any property, ... peasant men 
and women, and put them in prison for their gold and their silver, and tor- 
tured them with unutterable torture. . . . When the wretched men had 
no more to give they burned all the towns, so that thou mightest well go all a 
day's journey and thou shouldst never find a man sitting in a town or the land 
tilled.'' "In olden days," wrote another, "there was no king in Israel, 
and every one did that which was right in his own eyes ; but in England now 
it was worse ; for there was a king, but impotent, and every man did what 
was wrong in his own eyes." 



The barons' 
opportunity. 



Castle building. 



The Scots' 
invasion. 



The "Stand- 
ard." 



88 Twenty Centuries of English History 



The anarchy. 



outbreak of civil war. The cruel Robert, Earl of Glou- 
cester, was her chief partisan. Neighbors took sides and 
fought each other. The war was made an excuse for 
pillage, and the common people suffered, whichever 
party gained the advantage. Their law-courts were 




Dover Casi le 



closed, their property seized, their lives unsafe. The 
church did nothing to help them, and, hopeless in their 
misery, they said, "Christ and his saints are asleep." 
The misfortune of the war was universal, and its fortune 
wavered between Stephen and Matilda. The king was 
captured (1141), but was released the same year and 
besieged the empress in Oxford Castle, whence she 
escaped by stealth. 

The church, Archbishop Theobald at its head, finally 
delivered England. Its interference, in 11 53, when 
young Henry Plantagenet had landed in England to 
enforce his demand for his mother's rights and his own, 
secured the treaty of Wallingford. Stephen was left to 
rule in England, pledging that Henry should succeed 



The Rise of tlie Barons. 



him at his death. That event befell in iiS4, and Henry „ L . , 

^^' J Death of Ste- 

II., the first of the Plantagenets, was crowned king- of phen - "5 4 - 
England. Henry was already feudal lord of half of 
France. As the descendant of their dukes, he held u^'-uHy.' 
Normandy and Brittany ; from Geoffrey, his father, he 
inherited the counties of Anjou and Maine ; Gascony, 
Poitou, and Guyenne were 
the dowry of Eleanor, his 
wife. For these continental 
fiefs he did homage to the 
French king, but of England 
he was absolute lord. 

A thorough business man 
was this first of the Plantag- 
enets. The blood of Nor- 
man and Saxon mingled in 
his veins, and in his reign 
the marked distinction be- 
t ween the two races began 
to disappear. French — and 
rather bad French at that — ■ 
was the language of court 
and town. But French and 
English burghers and court- 
iers met on equal footing. 
The king chose his attend- 
ants and the officers of his 
government irrespective of 
race, and much work he 
found for them to do. For 
himself, he was never idle. 




The Standard, 1138. 

' ' The hardest worker in 



,, ill nii- 1 1 r A crowned 

the realm, men called him, as he turned from treasury statesman, 
accounts to diplomacy, from diplomacy to war, from war 
to statesmanship. 



go 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



There was need for such a hard-headed, practical 
man. Order must be brought out of the anarchy of 
Stephen's reign. The barons had stripped the monarch 
of most of the power which the Norman kings had 
reserved to the crown. To reduce them to their subor- 
dinate condition, the king ordered them to pull down 
the castles which they had built since Beauclerc's time. 
Then he took from the barons the right to try law-cases, 
which they had seized when the local and hundred- 
courts were closed by civil disorders, and neither the 
king nor his traveling deputies came to hear appeals. 
Not satisfied with restoring the government, he sought 
to reduce all the business of the state to one system of 
which he should be the mainspring and center-point. 

Among the trusted clerks of the train of Archbishop 
Theobald — the peace-maker — was one Thomas a Becket, 
the son of a rich Londoner of Norman blood. The king- 
discovered in him the stuff for a firm friendship. He 
rapidly advanced Thomas to the chancellorship, the 
highest civil office. The two young men together 
worked upon Henry's plans of reform, and on occasion 
the chancellor fought beside his master in the field. 
When the death of the old archbishop left the see of Can- 
terbury vacant the king secured the election of Thomas. 1 

A sarcastic old prelate who had opposed the election 
of a courtier to this sacred office said Henry had 
worked a miracle that day in turning a layman into an 

l A companion of Thomas wrote of the early friendship of kins and chan- 
cellor : " When business was over they would play together like boys of aii 
age; in hall, in church they sat together. . . . Sometimes the king rode on 
horseback into the hall where the chancellor sat at meat, . . . jumping over 
the table he would sit down and eat with him. Never in Christian times were 
there two men more of a mind or better friends." The pomp of the chan- 
cellor's retinue was royal. When he went on an embassy to the French court 
people marveled, " How wonderful must be the king whose chancellor travels 
in such state ! " As soon as he was elected archbishop he gave up his civil 
office, turned away his retinue, wore haircloth, ate and drank the meanest 
fare, and daily washed the feet of thirteen beggars. He accepted the pope as 
his master, anil undertook to establish the supremacy of the church above the 
crown. 



The Rise of the Barons. 91 

archbishop, a soldier into a saint. The fact was that 
he had turned his ablest friend into his most determined 
foe. 

Henry's policy required a friend at the head of the 
church, for he proposed to subject the ecclesiastical 
courts to himself. Since the Conqueror's time two sys- King'slawand 

* J canon law. 

terns of law and two judicial bodies had existed side by 
side in England ; the king's courts — from merest town- 
moot to the shire-court and the royal council — and the 
bishop's court, whioh not only tried men accused of 
offenses against the church or canon law, but which 
had jurisdiction over every person who had taken the 
tonsure. The penalties in the bishop's courts were com- 
paratively slight, and many a thief escaped hanging by 
claiming "benefit of clergy " (pleading some connection 
with the church), and so bringing his case before the 
bishop. The king wished to restrict the ecclesiastical 
courts to the trial of causes in which the church was 
properly concerned. At a great assembly of barons, 
abbots, and bishops held at Clarendon in 1164, the 
famous Constitutions of Clarendon were framed to cover _ 

Constitutions 

this reform. They declared the king's supremacy in of clarendon, 
the English Church, and they furthermore established 
the king's right to decide in which court suits should be 
brought, to be represented by an officer at all ecclesias- 
tical proceedings, and to hear and decide appeals from 
the bishop's decision. The man whom the king had 
made archbishop proved more loyal to church than to 
king. Becket denounced the Constitutions and fled 
from the presence of the angry monarch. After six 
years of exile the pope's threats forced the king to recall 
the primate. The two men acted a hollow reconcili- 
ation. But Henry would be rid of the rebel priest, and 
four knights who heard his ravings attacked the arch- 



92 Twenty C enturies of English History. 

bishop in the Cathedral of Canterbury and slew him on 
the altar-steps on the fourth day after Christmas, in the 
year of grace 1 170. The church paid high honor to his 
memory, and in later days pilgrims came in crowds to 
the shrine of St. Thomas, that " holy blissful martyr for 
to seek. ' " 

If the independence of the church was to be feared, 
the arrogance of the barons was still more menacing to 
the crown. The foresight of William I. had cut into 
their feudal state by requiring all freemen to swear 
allegiance directly to the king, instead of the Norman 
usage of swearing to a lord who, in turn, vowed fidel- 
ity to a duke, the latter doing homage to the king. 
Henry II. applied William's principle to military serv- 
ice. All tenants owed this, but the king allowed them 
exemption by paying him a tax called scutage. With 
the proceeds he employed mercenary troops for his 
wars abroad. Thus the barons lost the private armies 
which in every feudal country had been a menace rather 
than a support to the throne. By the ' 'Assize of Arms ' ' 
(1181) all freemen were obliged to muster armed at 
summons from the king. 

Of more importance to England than the reforms in 
church and army were those which were gradually 
engrafted upon the law. These are embodied in several 
"assizes." That of Clarendon revived and extended 
the "frank-pledge," a police system by which small 
clubs of freemen were formed for mutual security. It 
provided, moreover, a grand jury which indicted re- 

1 " Of the cowards that eat my bread is there not one who will rid me of this 
turbulent priest!" were the words which started the four knights on their 
sacrilegious errand. The populace (English) had taken sides with him in the 
struggle, and after he was made a saint (1172) his shrine became the goal of 
popular pilgrimage which lasted four hundred years. At the Reformation 
Henry VIII. destroyed the shrine, struck the name of St. Thomas from the 
calendar, and gave his ashes to tin- winds, in token of his abhorrence of the 
papal pretensions which Becket had championed. 



The Rise of the Barons. 



93 



puted criminals and presented them for trial by ordeal, 
by which "judgment of God" the old system of trial 
by "compurgators" was superseded. In I2i6an order 
of the church abolished the ordeal, leaving the word to 




Canterbury Cathedral. 

our vocabulary, but replacing the judicial test by a petty 
jury, such as still remains the basis of English law. 

The "Assize of Northampton" (1176) gave currency 
and system to Henry I.'s haphazard plan of sending dep- The germ of 

. , .... . , . the English 

uty justices throughout the island to preside at courts in judiciary, 
the king's name. Henry II. divided the kingdom into 
six such judicial circuits, and regularly heard appeals 
from their courts to himself in the council of his barons. 
From the committees of this council, appointed for 
especial branches of the law, arose the modern courts of 
King's Bench, Exchequer, 1 and Common Pleas. 

lExchequer: A playful name for the royal treasury, said to have been 
suggested by the parti-colored covering of some early treasurer's table, like a 
checker-board. 



94 Twenty Centuries of liiiglish History. 

The king was as active among his generals as he was 
among' his clerks and justices. He was engaged in 
three indecisive wars with the Welsh. After Becket's 
murder he went to Ireland, which now makes its hrst 
important entry upon the stage of English history. The 
island had been the scene of the utmost disorder for 
centuries. Once the abode of learning and piety, the 
ravages of the Danes had plunged it into a pit of igno- 
rance and superstition. One Dermod MacMurrough, 
a fugitive king of Leinster, came to Henry and swore 
fealty to him in return for aid in regaining his throne. 
In 1 1 70 Richard of Clare, called ' ' Strongbow, " an 
English noble of ruined fortune, led an irregular ex- 
pedition to Ireland and conquered the southeastern 
districts. To him went Henry himself in 1 172. perhaps 
to avoid the papal legates who came to curse him for 
the archbishop's murder. The next year he returned 
in time to meet the new legates, who brought absolu- 
tion. Ireland, though now nominally an English fief, 
remained unconquered, save where "Strongbow" and 
his knights lorded it oxer the wretched Irish. 1 

Henry managed the affairs of his kingdom better than 
those of his own household. His unfaithfulness toward 
his wife Eleanor gave material for many stories, among 
which that of "Fair Rosamond" is most notorious. 
His sons, Henry, Geoffrey, Richard, and John, were 
the heaviness of their father. The principle of heredity 
was not yet fully admitted, and the king was anxious 
about the succession. To secure the crown to his eldest 
son, Prince Henry, he had his barons swear allegiance 

1 Hadrian IV. (whose original name was Nicholas Breakspeare, ami who 
was the only Englishman who ever ailed the papal chair) granted all Ireland 
to King Henry in 1155 by a bull in which ho said, " There is no doubt, and 
your nobility acknowledges, that Ireland and all islands on which Christ the 
Sun of Righteousness has shone, and which have received the teachings of the 
Christian faith, rightfully belong to the blessed Peter and the most Holy Ro- 
man Chin ch." 



The Rise of the Barons. 95 

to him, and in 1170 had him formally crowned. From 

this time " the Young King" was a source of continual ''_ The , v "" n - 

& & king, 1170. 

strife. He demanded that a part of the inheritance, 
either Normandy or England, should be given to him 
forthwith. The king' had already made his will, but 
refused to be his own executor. At his death Henry 
was to have Normandy and England and Anjou ; Rich- 
ard's share was his mother's dowry, Aquitaine and 
Poitou, and Geoffrey should be Duke of Brittany. 

John, the youngest son, was omitted in the distri- 
bution, and the people — perhaps his brothers began it — 
dubbed him John "Lackland." Little John was the 
king's favorite, and he tried to save a portion for him 
by persuading the elder brothers to cede him certain of 
their own castles and manors. The surly Henry rudely 
objected, and leagued with the king of Scotland and a 
number of French and English barons to wrest the 
sovereignty from his father. But the old lion scattered 
the French armies like a whirlwind, capturing the rebels. 
Meanwhile his lieutenants in England had found once 
more that the king's strength lay in the confidence of 
the English commons. The nobles were in revolt, but 
the royal army defeated the earls (1173) and captured 
William the Lion, king of the Scots. The victory was „ , , 

. & . Scotland 

announced almost immediately after the king had made humbled, 1175. 
a humiliating pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas at 
Canterbury. Little blood was shed in punishment for 
this rebellion ; but more proud castles had to come 
down and more baronial power had to be yielded to the 
king. The king of Scots was not liberated until (1175) 
he swore on bended knee to hold his realm as a fief of 
the English crown. 

For the rest of his life Henry lived chiefly on the Con- 
tinent. The richest of his possessions were there ; and 



96 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

there, too, he might watch the course of his rival, the 
king of France, and keep an eye on his unfilial sons. 
England was ruled meanwhile by the king's justiciar, 
Ranulf Glanville. 

In vain the king besought his sons to join hands for 
their common safety. Young Henry, who was eventu- 
ally to reign, urged the brothers to swear fealty to him- 
self. Richard reluctantly obeyed, but a bloody quarrel 
followed the act. The old king and Richard took arms 
to oppose the attacks of Geoffrey and "the Young 
King." The latter' s death (1183) ended his career of 
mischief. Three years later Geoffrey died also — his 
widow soon after bearing an ill-starred son, Arthur 
of Brittany. Richard and the landless John survived. 
The experiment with one " young king " warned Henry 
of the imprudence of crowning another. But Richard 
made an alliance with Philip, king of France, and to- 
gether they attacked the king, now broken in spirit by 
disappointment and by the conduct of his heartless sons. 
In 1 189 he left England for the last time, as it proved. 
In July the sick and despairing monarch acknowledged 
Richard's claim to the crown of England. The list of 
conspirators was placed in his hands, that he might for- 
give them. At its head was John, the child of his heart, 
and when he saw that name he turned his face to the 
wall, lamenting, "No more, no more! Let all things 
go their way ! " Two days later he died at Chinon. 
u.,1189. The garrulous courtiers said that when Prince Richard 

passed the royal bier accusing blood gushed from the 
nostrils of the dead king. 

Personal bravery was the most conspicuous trait of 
Richard of Poitou, 1 who as the "Lion-heart" (Cceur 

1 The crusading fervor of the time found vent against the innocent Jews of 
England. They wen- unpopular, as the only non-Christians in the realm, and 
as the only money-lenders- the creditor class. They prepared a rich coro- 



Death of Henrv 



The Rise of the Barons. 97 



de Lion) became the ideal of knightly honor. He was 

a burly, red-faced man, more French than English Richard 

J % ° ' Cceur de Lio 

unduly fond of rich armor and gay trappings. His "89-1199. 
mother's French duchy was his real home. England 
never knew him well, and some doubt his ability to 
speak or write a single sentence in English; but the 
fame of his exploits against the Saracen filled all Chris- 
tendom, and long after his death Richard of England 
was a name to terrify the Turk. The romance of his 
life has caught the fancy of the world, and his extrava- 
gance and licentiousness are forgotten. 

Queen Eleanor held England for her chivalrous son 
until he came from France. His title to the throne was 
unclouded, and he flung himself at once into prepa- 
rations for the crusading enterprise which lay so near 
his heart. The emperor of Germany and the king of 
Sicily were already off for the East, and both Richard 
of England and Philip of France had taken the cross 
and were eager to join them in Palestine. 1 

Money was the king's pressing need, and he obtained 
it by selling privileges. Scotland bought back its inde- uie'crus^de. 
prudence, bishops paid roundly for their temporalities, 
earls for their earldoms, barons for their manors. The 
offices of justice and sheriff were made to yield their 
quota, also, to the enormous crusading fund. Before 
(putting the island he endeavored to insure its peace 
and good government. To John, his brother, he gave 

nation gift for Richard, but were barred out of Westminster and a mob looted 
their shops and dwellings in London. The monks, who had inflamed the pop- 
ulace by preaching up the crusade, encouraged the attacks upon the Jews. 
At York fully five hundred were besieged in the castle, where they took their 
own lives rather than fall into the hands of the mob. 

1 In October, 11S7, the city of Jerusalem, which had been in Christian hands 
since the first crusade, was captured by the Sultan Salad in. Christendom 
■was stirred to its foundations by the news that the Holy Sepulcher was in the 
grasp of the infidel. The pope summoned chivalry to the third crusade, and 
Richard the Lion-hearted, then Count of Poitou, was the first to take the cross. 
The " Salad in tax, " one tenth of his possessions, was laid upon every English- 
man. 



9 8 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



six English counties, so that he lacked land no more, 
but he gave him no voice in the government. The 
administration was left to the chancellor, William Long- 
champ, and to the bishop of Durham, whom he made 
justiciar, and who, as legate, also wielded the authority 
of the pope. Fearing trouble, he bound John and his 
half-brother, Geoffrey (not the father of pitiful Prince 
Arthur), to remain outside the kingdom for three years. 

Philip and Richard, progressing slowly and quarrel- 
ing on the way, reached Acre in Syria in 1191, where a 
Christian army held a force of Saracens beleaguered. 
The English king performed astounding feats of valor 
in the remaining days of the siege, which soon ended in 
the surrender of the city. Philip got his fill of crusa- 
ding and sailed for France. Richard pushed on toward 
Jerusalem, then in possession of Saladin, the most re- 
nowned and chivalrous of Mohammedan sultans. Hav- 
ing signed a truce with him, the English sovereign set 
out for home, where, as he had good reason to believe, 
his presence was urgently demanded. 

John's term of absence was expiring, and Philip of 
France was now Richard's foe. While on his home- 
ward journey the English king fell into the hands of the 
German emperor, who, to do France a favor, thrust 
him into an obscure prison. There he remained for 
thirteen months, while his minstrel Blondel, so the 
pretty legend runs, wandered through Europe singing 
the king's favorite air under many a dungeon wall, 
until at last Richard's own voice took up the strain and 
his place of confinement was disclosed. 

The king was indeed wanted in England. William 
Longchamp had assumed full control, and his arrogance 
had inflamed both nobles and commoners against him. 
The better to curb the former, he deprived them of their 



The Rise of the Barons, 



99 



A king's ran- 
som. 



castles. Prince John seized the opportunity to return 
to England, where he made himself regent, and plotted 
with the French king to prevent Rich- 
ard's return. 

The English people were proud of 
their lion-hearted king, and left no 
stone unturned in their efforts for his 
release. His captor placed an enor- 
mous ransom upon him, and Philip 
and the false John put every obstacle 
in the way of raising it. But Queen 
Eleanor, the new justiciar, and Hubert 
Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, put 
themselves at the head of the enthu- 
siastic nation, and the sum was made 
up. The rich gave liberally, and the 
common people contributed one fourth, 
of their movable goods. In a twelve- 
month the money was paid over. ' The 
emperor kept his word, and Richard 
was set free. King Philip's messenger posted to John 
with the words, "Beware! the devil is loose." 

King Richard arrived in England in March, 1194, 
Justin time to witness John's surrender to Archbishop 
Hubert and to pardon his brother and Geoffrey. He 
spent but sixty days in the island in this, the last visit 
of his life, and he applied the time to the restoration of 
order and the levying of a tax to defray the expense of 
the war which he was about to carry on with France. 
In May he sailed for the Continent, leaving Hubert 
Walter to govern the realm and raise funds to meet the war with 
heavy drafts of the campaign. The archbishop was 

1 The fact that such a sum, 150,000 marks ($500,000), could he raised in such 
a time shows that England was already outstripping in wealth all European 
states except Italy. 




A Crusader 



too Twenty Centuries^ of English History. 



Death of 
Richard I., 
1199. 



A name of 
ill omen. 



a well-trained politician, a prudent ruler, and a states- 
man. But not even he could continue uninterruptedly 
to exact money from the English to support an unpopu- 
lar foreign war. In 119S a great council of notables 
met his request for an extraordinary contribution with 
Hat refusal, and he was glad to lay down his dignities in 
favor of a sterner man, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter. 

The money wrenched from Englishmen went partly 
for war, partly for fortresses, and partly to buy alliances 
with the enemies of France. Had Richard been able 
to unite his French dominions with his English heritage 
for a common and hearty attack upon Philip of France 
he might have won, but his continental duchies and 
counties cared far less for him than did his English sub- 
jects, who in turn felt no interest in the war. To pro- 
tect Rouen, his Norman capital, he built that splendid 
Chateau Gaillard (the "saucy castle") which Philip 
swore to take " were the walls iron," and Cceur de Lion 
vowed to defend "were its bulwarks built of butter." 
To crush the French monarch he and his stanch friend 
Longchamp intrigued with the courts of Western Eu- 
rope. When the plot was nearly ready for execution 
death foiled it. In a private feud with the Count of 
Limoges, over a treasure-trove claimed by the count's 
master, the king received his mortal hurt from an arrow 
shot from the castle wall (1199). So died Richard I. 
of England, forgiving, in his chivalrous fashion, the 
bowman whose shaft had struck him down. 

In the list of English kings since the Conquest many 
names are repeated : four Williams, eight Henrys, six 
Edwards, four Georges, and two each named James and 
Charles, but John has had no namesake; no English 
queen has dared to christen a son by that hated name. 
( )f John Lackland, the prince, the reader knows some- 



The Rise of tlw Barons. 101 

thing — how his rebellion broke the heart of a kind father, 

and his treachery stole the kingdom from a brother in 

distress. This talented and fascinating monarch was 

foul in his life, and false to all men and women with 

whom he had to do. 

King Richard died childless. By the Norman rules of 

inheritance his next of kin was not his younger brother 

John, but Prince Arthur of Brittany, son of his deceased Kingjohn, 
J J 1190-1216. 

elder brother Geoffrey. Yet John claimed the crown of 

England, as the ablest and most worthy male of the house 
of Plantagenet, and Hubert Walter secured his election 
and coronation. From his father, Geoffrey, young 
Arthur inherited Anjou and other French provinces, 
and the prince after receiving their allegiance lived at 
King Philip's court. John claimed these provinces for 
himself, and, with the advice and able assistance of his 
queen-mother Eleanor, used force to compel their sub- 
mission ; Philip left Arthur to shift for himself, and the p r i nC e Arthur 
prince, now fifteen years of age, fell into John's hands. 
A mystery shrouds Arthur's death, but his uncle's char- 
acter makes plausible the story that he was murdered 
at Rouen either by John or by his direct command. 
Philip at least credited the report and ordered John, as 
his vassal, to appear in person and clear himself. The 
sentence of the court was forfeiture. The decree was 
enforced by arms, and not only Normandy but the 
entire English continental domain, save a small district i? r enchdo- hlS 
in the south of France and the Channel Islands, was mains - 
seized by the French. 

The death of Archbishop Hubert Walter precipitated 
King John's disastrous conflict with the church. There 
were several candidates for the primacy. The Canter- thechurch. 
bury monks had one, John named another, and the bish- 
ops nominated a third. Innocent III., one of the greatest 



102 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



of the popes, threw out all three, and gave the place to 
his former fellow-student and friend, Stephen Langton 
(1207). The enraged king swore that the pope's man 
should never set foot in the kingdom. For six years 
he kept his defiant word in the face of the most awful 
power in Christendom. Innocent launched his three 
thunderbolts successively against him. First an inter- 
dict was placed upon the kingdom. All public religious 
services were forbidden. Churches were closed and all 
church ceremonies save baptism ceased. The king 
retaliated by plundering the prelates who obeyed the 
pope, and by persecuting the Italian priests. Innocent 
then declared the king excommunicate, and his people 
were ordered to have no dealings with him. Still John 
was obdurate. Innocent's final act was the Bull of Depo- 
sition. The king was now a spiritual outlaw, and his 
vassals were released from their allegiance. To Philip 
of France the pope entrusted the execution of his de- 
cree against England. John would still have stood firm 
had he not discovered that his English barons were 
deserting him. By a sudden change of front he yielded 
all to Rome. On May 15, 1213, King John disgrace- 
fully surrendered his kingdom to the pope's commis- 
sioner, Pandulf, receiving it again as tributary vassal of 
Innocent III. 1 

At his coronation, and twice or thrice thereafter when 
hard pressed, John had sworn to rule justly, after the 
laws of the best of his predecessors ; but his promises 
were made only to be broken, and the oppressed barons 
secretly concerted measures for holding him to their 

1 The superstitions monarch never went on a journey without hanging a 
sacred relic at his neck. He had defied the pope, but when it was prophesied 
that he should lose his crown before Ascension Day, 1213, he flung himself into 
the arms of the church. He knelt before the legate, placed his head between 
Pandulf's hands, and formally gave up the kingdom, receiving it back by the 
favor of the pope and promising to do lend it as a part of the patrimony of St. 
Peter. 



The Rise of the Barons. 103 

performance. Archbishop Langton, of honored mem- , ... . 
ory, added the influence of the church to the strength Langton. 
of the nobility, and the common people, finding their 
natural leaders united and their sovereign faithless, 
joined with them against the king. Langton found 
among the rolls a copy of the charter of rights which 
Henry I. had granted. This forgotten document he 
read to the barons assembled at St. Paul's Church in TT 

Henry's 

London, in October, 12 13, proposing it as a basis for a charter, 
new charter which should place definite bounds upon 
the power of the king. 

John turned and twisted to free himself from the coil 
of difficulties gathering about him. To dissolve the 
union of the nobility, to win over the clergy, to secure 
the interference of the pope, taxed every device of the 
king's remarkably fertile brain ; but Stephen and the 
men who believed in the righteousness of their cause 
and knew John's worthlessness would not be put off or 
gainsaid. They marched upon London and extorted 
terms from the isolated king. On the 15th of June, in 
the year 121 5, on an island near Runnymede, in the 

t^i r* 1 i*t' Runnvmede. 

I names, between Staines and Windsor, he met the 
barons and signed with them the treaty which we rever- 
ence as Magna Charta, the Great Charter of the English 
nation. 

The Great Charter was a plain statement of the sev- 
eral rights and privileges which former kings had 
granted to the church, nobility, towns, and common Magna Charta, 
people of England. It contained little or nothing that 
was new, but it expressed in definite shape the accepted 
principles of good government and provided means for 
applying them. It declared, "No freeman shall be 
seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or 
in any way brought to ruin, save by the legal judgment 



io4 Twenty Centuries of English History 



of his equals or by the law of the land." " To no man 
will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice." No 
tax could be levied save by the authority of the .uro.it 
council — this accords with that maxim of liberty, "No 
taxation without representation." All privileges granted 
by the king to his tenants-in-chief were to be granted in 
like manner by these barons to their under- tenantry. 
Trade was relieved from excessive duties, the rights 
which the city and town corporations had acquired were 
to be respected. These and many other provisions 
make up Magna Charta. The novel feature of the 
paper was the appointment of a committee of twenty- 
five barons to insure its execution.' 

John <.lid not dream of keeping Faith. He was the 
pope's man now, and the weapons which had been 
fleshed upon him were at his disposal against his ene- 
mies. At his suit the pope annulled the charter and 
absolved the king from his share in its enactment. The 
barons rebelled, and the pope struck at them blow after 
blow. Excommunication was followed by interdict, and 
the king hired an army of continental ruffians to chas- 
tise them until they cried for mercy. Pandulf declared 
Archbishop Langton suspended from his episcopal 
authority. The barons mustered such forces as they 
could, and begged Louis, son of Philip of France, to 
rid their island of its monstrous monarch. The French 
landed in May, 1216. John was in the North, fight- 
ing the king of Scots. He turned southward to meet 

1 riu- original parchment signed by King John at Runnymede is still pre- 
served in the British Museum, though time and fire ana dampness have 
destroyed its legibility. Copies were written at the time for distribution 
throughout the realm, and the usual engravings called "facsimiles" are 
made from one ol these, rheking's rage at what he had been compelled to 
<!<•> was terrible. He threw hi nisei I on the floor, and snapped at sticks and 
straw tike a mad dog, rheking who had ignominiously given tip his king- 
dom to the pope was infuriated 03 the appointment ol the twenty-five barons 
to see that the provisions ol the chattel were observed, " rhey have given 
me twenty-five over-kings," he declai ed. 



The Rise of the Barons. 105 



the new foe, but in crossing the sands of the Wash 

in Lincolnshire a high tide swallowed his treasure and 

left him weakened in the presence of his enemies. 

Death was more speedy than the dauphin's army. 

Fever — some whisper poison — ended his wretched life Death of John, 

at Newark, October 19, 1216. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The Statesmanship ok Henry 11. 

Henry 11. J. R. Green. 

The Early Plantagenets. W. Stubbs. 

2. Richard I. and England's Share in the Crusades. 

The Crusades. G. W. Cox. 

The Story of the Crusades. Archer and Kingsford. 

3. The Great Charter {Magna Charta). 

Constitutional History. W. Stubbs. 
English Constitutional History. T. 1*. Taswcll-Lang- 
mead. 

4. The Customs of Chivalry. 

Chivalry. L. Gautier (trans, by H. Frith). 

Fiction, Etc. 

Ivanhoe. Scott. 
Becket. Tennyson. 
The Talisman. Scott. 
Kins; John. Shakespeare. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Plantagenet Kings, 1216 A. 0.-1327 A. D. 

— From the Accession of Henry III. to 

the Death of Edward II. 

The affairs of England were in woful case when the 
death of King John left his nine-year-old son, Henry of 

1216-1272. "' Winchester, to face the exasperated nobles and the 
ambitious dauphin. The tyrant's death removed the 
most serious grievance of the rebels. Patriotism de- 
tached some English nobles from the French prince ; 
the prospect of more independence during the boy 
king's minority doubtless caused more to fall away. 
The barons were fighting to compel the king to observe 
his pledge of good government ; opportunity now 
offered for the patriots and nobles to rally around an 
infant, and in his name to set up the system which his 
false father had spurned. 

A band of John's friends, chief among them William 
Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, Peter des Roches, bishop 

siiaii ia regen^ of Winchester, and the papal legate, had the little 
prince crowned king at Gloucester. In his name they 
reissued Magna Charta. William Marshall assumed 
the regency as "governor of the king and kingdom." 
He beat the French and their English allies at Lincoln, 
and cleared Louis out of the island. ' Henry was 

1 Hubert de Burgh's victory over the French fleet in Dover Strait affords a 
glimpse of thirteenth century naval methods : The English came into close 
quarters, rammed and then grappled the enemy's vessels, pouring in a " fire " 
from bows, crossbows, slings, and unslaked lime. The boarding parties 
used swords, axes, and lances. The English were already recognized as 
skilful seamen, and the mariner's compass was just coming into use. 

lOfi 



1216-1219. 



The Plantagcnet Kings. 107 

accepted as king by the remnant of the rebels, and 

in his name the regent reaffirmed the Charter, from 

which the pope had withdrawn his condemnation. In 

1 2 19 Earl William died, having saved the country from 

France and civil war. Peter des Roches, Pandulf, the 

papal legate, and the justiciar, Hubert de Burgh, jointly Hubert de 

assumed the regency, and Henry was crowned again at 

Westminster by Archbishop Langton, whose share in 

the events at Runnymede was now forgiven and even 

applauded. 

Hubert was the great man of the triumvirate, Bishop 
Peter was one of the many Frenchmen whom John had 
enriched, and Pandulf was the agent of the Roman 
pontiff. The justiciar succeeded in driving the French 
' ' carpet-baggers ' ' out of the island, and upon the re- Court parties, 
turn of Langton the legate Pandulf was superseded, and 
England's church was left under the control of the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. These were genuine triumphs 
for Hubert. In 1225, when the justiciar desired a grant 
of money to meet the expenses of a new war with Louis, 
now king of France, King Henry again, " by his spon- 
taneous will," solemnly promised to respect the charter 
which his father had signed perforcedly. 

In 1227 Henry became of age and at once began to 
demonstrate his unfitness to rule. During the forty- 
five years of his active reign he lost no opportunity to 
rid himself of constitutional trammels and to show his 
disregard of the English nation and his subservience to 
the pope. By playing off one party against another he 
succeeded in freeing himself from the domination of 
Hubert 1 and the great nobles of the regency and filled 
their places with mere clerks. The authority of the 

1 Hubert de Burgh was a popular hero, and when he fell from power it is 
said that a blacksmith refused to forge irons for the man who had saved Eng- 
land. 



ioS 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



great officers justiciar, chancellor, treasurer — the king 
reserved to himself. With stubborn disregard of the 
demands of his subjects, he laid upon them repeated 
taxes to support his petty wars with Scotland, Wales, 
and France, and to lavish upon the gorgeous tourneys 
and feasts with which he celebrated the marriages of his 
family. To these expenses were added the great sums 
which he pledged to the pope. 

The bishops and harons debated each fresh tax-levy 
in a great council — now first called "Parliament." So 

far as they dared they 
resisted. The king 
generally gained their 
consent by promis- 
ing- to redress their 
wrongs. They were 
long in learning the 
vanity of his pledges. 
They lacked a leader 
until in Simon de 
Mont fort, Earl of 
Leicester, they found 
the will and the cour- 
age to grapple with 

the king. 

The great earl was 
a Fren c h m a n w ho 
had won the king's 
Favor and had mar- 
ried his sister, the 
Princess Eleanor, though he soon ranged himself among 
the barons who were Pent on curbing Henry's tyranny. 
It may have been from motives of prudence that Henry 
kept this dangerous vassal constantly employed in for- 




SlMON DE Ml »N 11 OH 1 



Tke Plantagenet Kings. 109 

eign service. For a number of years he governed with 
rigorous hand the king's subjects in Southern France. 
In 1253 he returned to become the champion of English 
freedom. 

The royal tyranny grew worse every year. In 1257 
the king demanded of Parliament a grant of money to Exactions, 
enable his son to become king of Sicily. The barons 
cut the appropriation down. The next year came a 
fresh demand. He had pledged his realm to the pope 
for a certain sum, thrice the annual revenue of the state ; 
if the Parliament would grant it he would govern hence- 
forth in accordance with their wishes. The " Provisions ^ p ' ov , is ; i , ons of 

Oxford, 1258. 

of Oxford," drawn up in June of that year, expressed 
the desires of the barons. They went beyond the 
terms of the Great Charter. The foreign favorites were 
to be expelled ; the great offices, whose functions the 
king had monopolized, were to be revived, the liberal 
financial and judicial arrangements of Henry II. were 
to be restored. Twenty-four men, twelve by royal 
appointment, twelve chosen by the earls and barons, 
were to carry out the reforms. A select council of 
fifteen was to meet thrice a year to advise the king. 
Two other commissions represented the barons and 
the church. To all these acts Henry plighted his 
sacred word. 

England had now fixed limits to its monarchy and 
outlined a constitution. But the king was as false as 
the traitor John, and the barons and earls were jealous 
and discordant. The Provisions had been in force only 
two years when Henry, taking advantage of the dis- 
union of his enemies, renounced his oath, the pope 
granting him absolution for his perfidy. But the The Barons' 
irrepressible conflict was not to be lightly avoided. 
Earl Simon took arms against the faithless monarch 



no Twenty Centuries of English History 



and in a battle at Lewes (1264) made him a captive. 1 
A new Parliament, in which four knights from each 
shire sat with the barons and bishops, drew up a new 
constitution, limiting the royal prerogatives still more 
strictly than the Oxford Provisions. Three counselors, 
of whom Earl Simon was one, were clothed with extra- 
ordinary power. By their advice the body known in 
history as "Simon de Montfort's Parliament" was 
summoned to meet in January, 1265. Here, for the 
first time in English history, the towns were represented 
by commoners, members who sat alongside the earls, 
barons, and bishops, who represented the feudal organ- 
ization of the realm. This was a significant step in 
the direction of government by the people. 

A quarrel between the earls reopened the civil war. 
Simon fell in battle at Evesham, and his party lingered, 
only to be beaten piecemeal. The king, though vic- 
torious, dared not revive the tyrannies of his early 
reign, but he summoned no commons to his Parlia- 
ment and allowed no committee of barons to rule his 
actions. Prince Edward went crusading to the Holy 
Land, and in his absence (1272) his father died, after 
the longest and one of the most oppressive of English 
reigns. 

The reign of Henry III. covers more than half of the 
thirteenth century, one of the most brilliant epochs in 
the history of the world. A revival of religion in the 
Christian Church sent forth two orders of preaching 
friars. The Dominicans, or Black Friars, and the 
Franciscans, or Grey Friars, were men who took the 
vow of poverty and consecrated themselves to preach- 

1 At Lewes the church, the Londoners, and the common people fought the 
nobility. The Prince of Wales (afterward Edward I.), commanding one 
division of the Royalists, was victorious, but pursued his flying foe so far that 
the remnant of the royal army, with the king himself, fell into De Montfort's 
hands. 



The Plantagenet Kings. 



1 1 1 



ing the Gospel to the common people. 1 Having no 
c h u r ches or monasteries, 
they preached in the streets 
and at the roadside crosses, 
living on the scanty alms of 
their hearers. These simple 
preachers did much to pur- 
ify the life of the towns- 
people, and the more learned 
of their order were among 
the noted lecturers in the 
new universities. For it was 
during Henry's reign that 
Oxford ' began to be known 
in England, Scotland, Wales, 
and Western Europe as a 
center of learning. A few 
students, assembled in the 
previous century to listen to 
lectures on divinity and Ro- 
man law, formed the nucleus 
of this university, whither 




The universi- 
ties. 



Dominican (Black) Friar. 
Thirteenth century. 



i The Dominicans followed the zealous Spanish priest St. Dominic (1170- 
1221), who was the father of the " Holy Inquisition," and who organized them 
to go through Christendom condemning heresy and worldliness. St. Francis 
ofAssisi (1182-1226), " the most blameless and gentle of all saints," intended 
his orderto exemplify the poverty and devotion of the first apostles. Both 
these mendicant orders furnished a marked contrast to the luxury and pride of 
the Benedictine monks. " The enthusiasm and success of the early friars have 
been compared with those of the English Methodists in the days of Wesley 
and Whitefield." The common people heard these street preachers so gladly 
that it is said the churches were deserted. The early friars were angels of 
mercy to the leper colonies of the Middle Ages, and their lodges or " friaries " 
were usually located in the most densely populated parts of the towns, where 
they were nearest to human need and suffering. 

2 In 1183 one Robert Pullen, a theologian who had studied at Paris, lectured 
on the Bible to a few eager pupils in an abandoned nunnery at Oxford. Before 
the end of the century the town had gained note as a resort of students. In 
1257 it stood second only to Paris among the great schools of the church, and 
then numbered about 3,000 students. The beginnings of the sister university 
of Cambridge belong to the same period. The collegiate system was initiated 
when Walter of Merton endowed Merton College at Oxford, in which a 
number of students were to dwell together in conventual buildings under 
certain rules. 



[12 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

flocked young men from every nation, and where the 
friar Roger Bacon (1214—1292), "the first name in the 
roll of modern science," taught and wrote. 

After two centuries of French Williams and Henrys 
Edwardi. the Saxon name of Edward reappears in the list of 

' ,mks '" English kings, and — irrespective of the earlier bearers 
of the name — this Plantagenet is known as Edward 
"the First," or, in the familiar speech of his camps, as 
Edward " Longshanks." His boyhood witnessed the 
efforts of the barons to compel his father to respect 
the Charter ; in his earlier manhood he learned patriot- 
ism and military skill from his famous uncle, Simon de 
Mont fort, whose views he favored until he had reason 
to fear for his own succession. His strategy and valor 
ended the war at Evesham, and his wisdom then 
took him to distant Palestine, to allow time for the hot 
tempers of the kingdom to cool. The news of his 
father's death brought him home. He was then thirty- 
three years of age, vigorous in body and mind. On his 
homeward journey he paid his respects to the pope and 
knelt in homage to King Philip III. of France, as over- 
lord of Gascony. It was 1274 when he set foot in 
England and the crown of his Plantagenet fathers was 
placed upon his worthy head. 

Edward I. reigned gloriously for thirty-five years, 

reign. extending the boundaries 01 bngland, exerting her m- 

fluence over Wales and Scotland, and inspiring within 

the nation itself a pride and patriotism it had never 

known before. 

The Welsh war was already forward when Edward 
returned from Palestine. Wales was peopled by a 
remnant of the Celtic race which Caesar had found in 
Southern Britain, and which the Anglo-Saxon invasion 
had driven into the mountain fastnesses of the West. 



i!} Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Cornwall and the lesser Celtic states of the West had 
by decrees become Knjjlish, but no English king hail 
yet bnn sovereign of Wales. The people were Chris- 
tians of the early British type ; they spoke the old 
Celtic language, ami the songs of their bards kept alive 
rhe subju- an ardent national spirit. They were threatening neieh- 

eatlon ot i . s> & 

Waies,i284> DOrs for the West-of- England shires, which the Norman 
kings had sought to protect by granting extraordinary 

powers to the bonier nobles — the earls of the marches. 
Thus the western families of Mortimer, Bohun, Marshall, 
ami Clare rose to dangerous eminence, and were some- 
times even found in league with the Welsh princes in 
their private feuds or against the king. Prince Llewellyn 
of Wales refused to pay homage to King Edward. In 
1277 he was forced to admit the king's feudal suprem- 
acy, but he soon broke faith anil invaded the western 
marches. The half-measures of the past fifty years hail 
failed, and the time for thorough work had come. 
Edward's great army crossed the bonier, defeated the 
prince and his brother, and compelled the submission of 
the Celtic chieftains. It was long believed that the 
bards who had inspired die Welsh to resistance were 
ruthlessly massacred by his order. In 1284 the "Stat- 
ute of Wales" proclaimed the annexation of the princi- 
pality to England. ' 

Soon after the pacification of [he West eonlusion arose 

in the North. The death of the Scottish sovereign left 
Edward de> . , ■ , • ,• ,- ,, .1 

cides the Scot- thirteen claimants wrangling tor the vacant throne. 

The English kings since William 1. had claimed author- 
ity over Scotland. The disputed claim was now left to 
Edward to deride. John Balliol and Robert Bruce 

1 Edward's son, Edward <■! Carnarvon, «li>' «.i> born in tins year, «.is 
acknowledged "Prince <>t Wales." According to the tradition, the Welsh 
chieftains, who had vowed nevei to serve an " English-speaking" pi ince, gave 
In theii allegiance to iliis speechless babe. 



tish succession, 

1 A) I. 



The Plantagenet Kings. 115 

were the leading candidates before the Scottish council 
which King Edward held in Norham Castle in 1291, and 
to the former, with the general assent of the Scots, the 
king awarded the crown. Balliol accepted the kingdom 
as a fief of England, and did homage for it in true feudal 
fashion. Yet both the Scots and their hint*- fretted 
under this English sovereignty. They resisted Ed- 
ward's decree that appeals from Scottish law courts be 
settled in his own council, and they disobeyed his sum- 
mons to fight in the English wars. In fact, Balliol made 
a secret treaty with Edward's enemy, Philip IV. of 
France. 

It was to invade France that Edward had summoned 

the Scottish barons. The sailors of the English Chan- w " Nvi,h 

° France. 

nel ports had quarreled with the Norman seamen, and 
King Philip, as Edward's feudal lord, had called him to 
account. Instead of going Edward sent his brother, 
offending thus His Majesty of France, who at once 
seized Guienne, one of the remnants of English territory 
on the Continent. War was inevitable. The defection 
of the Scots was the king's first care. He had learned 
of their alliance with France — the beginning of a con- 
nection which lasted until the eighteenth century — and 
demanded possession of their bolder castles as a pledge 
of good faith. When Balliol defied him, Edward's invasionof 

t» 1 Scotland, 

army sacked the border city of Berwick, captured 

Edinburgh, Stirling, and Berth, and forced the king to 

surrender. John Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, was left 

to pacify and organize the English rule. The conqueror 

took back with him to Westminster a sacred stone 

supposed to be the hard pillow on which the patriarch 

Jacob dreamed of the heaven-reaching ladder. Upon 

this stone in the Abbcv of Scone each sovereign of Scot- Jhe Stone of 
J & Scone. 

land had been crowned. Edward had it placed in the 



1 1 6 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



English coronation chair which is still in use at West- 
minster. When James VI. of Scotland became James 
I. of England, the Scots saw in the event a new prooi 

of the virtue of this 
relic. ' 

Earl Warrenne was 
rudely checked in his 
work of organization 
by William Wallace, 
an outlawed Scottish 
knight. The baron- 
age and the clergy 
obeyed Edward's 
lieutenant, but Wal- 
lace aroused the com- 
mon people to win 
back the freedom 
which the nobility 
had surrendered. 
Such a tide of national 
feeling had not been 
seen before in Scot- 
la nil, anil its first 

IHK ENGI 1MI ( ORONATION CHAIR. 

waves were resist- 
less. Utterly routed in the battle of Stirling (Septem- 
ber, i J07 ), Earl Warrenne abandoned the kingdom. 
Wallace was now hailed as "guardian of the realm/' 
but Edward hastened against him with an overwhelming 
force. Two abler generals had not met before on British 
soil than Edward and the outlaw Wallace. The supe- 

1 The tradition is that this "Stone <>f Destiny " was brought to Ireland from 
the Continent and sot up at I'aia. as tin- coronation stone 01 the ancient Irish 
kini;s. li was later removed t«> Scotland and about S40 was installed at Scone. 
An old Latin distich ran : 

" Where'ei this stone may be, su< h is the Fates' decree, 
I'heu tin- s. ottish race shall till the highest place." 




The Plantagenet Kings. 117 



rior strength of the English archers carried the day at 

Falkirk, in Jul}-, 129S.' But not until 1304 did Edward Falkirk, 1298. 

consider the conquest of Scotland completed. Wallace 

was put to death as a traitor, and the government of his 

country was entrusted to a council of Scottish nobles. 

In the year before Edward's death (1307) the spirit of 

Scottish nationality flamed forth again, and a war was 

begun which eventually won the independence of that 

kingdom. 

The stirring events of the West and North must not 
obscure the political and legal activities of Edward's courts of law. 
reign. The king's justices were now divided, for 
judicial purposes, into three courts : Exchequer, for 
trying revenue cases ; King's Bench, where criminal 
suits are heard ; and Common Pleas, the court of pri- 
vate litigation. A separate staff of judges was assigned 
to each division. As a source of revenue the Parlia- 
ment of 1275 granted to the king an export duty upon 
wool — the first customs duty imposed on English goods. 
The Welsh and Scottish campaigns exhausted the royal 
coffers and frequent Parliaments were called to devise 
new methods of raising money. At first the innovations 
of Simon de Montfort were disregarded, and only the 
barons and clergy were represented in these gatherings. 
But the government was hard pressed for money, which 
the towns-people and county farmers could supply. In 
1295 King Edward summoned the first perfect Parlia- 
ment — " the clergy represented by their bishops, deans, Parliament/' 
etc. ; the barons summoned severally in person by the I295 ' 
king's special writ ; and the commons summoned by 

1 King Edward's tactics against the masses of Scottish infantry consisted in 
shaking the column by volleys of arrows and thin throwing it into confusion 
by a charge of mailed knights on horseback. The English archers had by 
this time exchanged the old-fashioned shortbow (four-foot) for the six-foot 
weapon and cloth yard-shaft of the Welsh. With the longbow a sinewy yeo- 
man could drive a heavy arrow through a plank door four inches thick. For 
centuries this was the national weapon of the English. 



ii8 Twenty Centuries- of English J Ii story. 



writs addressed to the sheriffs, directing" them to send 
np two elected knights from each shire, two elected citi- 
zens from each city, and two elected burghers from each 
borough." The right of the barons to be summoned to 
Parliament became hereditary, and these members, with 
the bishops, made up the House of Lords. The other 
members, knights and commons, formed the House of 
Commons, though in Edward's time, and long after, this 
division of Parliament into two houses was unknown. 1 

It is not to be supposed that Edward granted these 
free institutions to his people from any philanthropic 
motives. Order and system were, in his mind, essential 
to good government, but it was no less essential that 
the king should be the source of all order and the 
center-point of the system. His obstinate persistence in 
taxing the church involved him in a quarrel with Win- 
chelsey, archbishop of Canterbury, which was pro- 
longed through several years, and which ended in 1297 
by a compromise. In that year the king needed money 
and men for the invasion of Elanders. The barons, 
irritated by the king's assumptions of power, refused to 
follow him, and the clergy, led by the archbishop and 
backed by the pope, refused to be taxed. As the price 
of submission of both orders, Winchelsey obtained a 
confirmation of the old charters, and the promulgation 
of new decrees establishing the right of the people to 
determine all questions of taxation. This confirmation 
of the charters was repeated again ami again, and twice 
a year the charters were to be read aloud in the cathe- 
dral churches, to remind the people of their political 
rights and obligations. 

1 The essential points of this "Model Parliament" are: (,1) The knights 
and towns-people (burgesses) were represented; (2) they were genuine rep- 
resentatives of their class, being elected; (3) they met to do something to 
authorize taxation, not merely to debate and give advice; (4) the magnates 
and the clergy met with them. Thus the whole nation was represented. 



The Plantagenet Kings. 



119 



The closing months of Edward's life are characteristic 
of the man. He was now nearly seventy years of age, 
and his magnificent physique had been shattered by the 
mental and physical strain of a busy life in camp and 
council hall. The government which he had inaugu- 
rated in Scotland had gone wrong. Robert Bruce, a Ro b er t Bruce, 
grandson of the Bruce who had claimed the crown in 
1 290, was heading an insurrection. By combining 
strength with stealth he overcame the English interest, 
stabbing with his own hand John Corny n, the late regent. 
Bruce was crowned king of Scots at Scone, in March, 
1306. To him rallied the elements which had made 
Wallace's rising momentarily successful ; but his re- 
sources were slender, and had Edward been young and 
vigorous the end might have been otherwise. An 
English army beat the Bruce and drove him into the 
fastnesses of the Highlands ; Edward himself hurried 
forward to assume the direction of affairs, but his in- 
firmities bore him down, and on July 7, 1307, he suc- 
cumbed, dying at Burgh-on-Sands, within sight of the 
Scottish border. Eleanor, 1 his first queen, whom he 
loved devotedly, had died seventeen years before, her 
sole surviving son, Edward, being Prince of Wales and 
heir to the crown of England. 

England has had no more kingly king than the first 
Edward. His reign was not destitute of great men, but 
he towers above his earls and bishops as he over-topped 
them in life. Strong and steadfast in every crisis, the 
exemplar of his motto, "Keep troth" {Pactum servo) , ■• Keep troth.' 
he was a genuine leader of the nation, a real king. 
Men have called him cruel, but his "massacre of the 

1 Eleanor, daughter of Alfonso X. of Castile, died near Lincoln in 1290. She 
was buried at Westminster, and at every town in which the body rested 
along the route of the funeral procession King Edward caused to be erected 
a monumental cross. The crosses at Northampton and Waltham are the 
best preserved. 



Death of 
Edward I., 

i3°7- 



Edward II. 



1 20 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Welsh bards" is a falsehood, his treatment of Wallace 
and tin- Scots was in his eyes just judgment upon oath 
breakers, and his expulsion of the Jews from the king- 
dom (1290) was in answer to an undoubted popular 
demand. ' 

Edward of Carnarvon, who succeeded his hard-headed 

of Carnarvon, father, was a gay and pleasure-loving gentleman of 
1307-1327. ° j " *> *> 

twenty-three. The burden of a centralized personal 
government, which the elder Edward had carried easily 

upon his sinewy shoulders, sent the son staggering to 
his fall. 

The young Edward's devotion to a Gascon courtier, 

Piers Gaveston. Piers Gaveston, was the spring of his misfortunes. The 
old king had warned his son that the nobles would be 
jealous of Piers, and before his death he had banished 
the favorite and pledged the prince not to recall him 
without the consent of Parliament. But this wise coun- 
sel was lost upon the flighty young king, who immedi- 
ately recalled Gaveston to England, made him Earl of 
Cornwall, and, to the disgust of the English nobility, 
left this earl of a day regent of the kingdom while he 
went to France to claim the hand of Isabella, daughter 
of Philip the Fair. King and queen were crowned 
together ( [308), the sovereign swearing "to keep the 
laws and righteous customs which the community of 

favorites * ne rea l m shall have chosen, and to defend them and 

strengthen them to the honor of God, to the utmost of 
my power." 

1 The Jews being the principal capitalists were hated by then- debtors, the 
improvident landowners, and were offensive to the common people on other 

accounts. It seems to have been generally believed that on Good Friday then- 
custom was to crucify a Christian lad. On account of such a report, in 1278 
" manie Jewes at London, after Easter, were drawn at horses' tads anil 
hanged. Aiiei 1275 Jews were compelled to wear a conspicuous badge 01 
theii nationality. In 1278 ovei two hundred of them were hanged for counter- 
feiting or otherwise debasing coin. In [286 they weie lined to raise a military 
fund, in 1 290 the popular outers prevailed, l'iie Kws to the numbei oi abo\ e 
1 lefl the kingdom, not to return until the time of Cromwell, lour centuries 
later. 



The Planiagenet Kings. 121 

The barons' opposition to Gaveston showed itself at 
once. The Scottish war was allowed to languish, and 
the king devoted himself to the protection of his un- 
worthy favorite. The great Earls of Lancaster, Lincoln, 
and Warwick led the attack. Two months after the 
coronation Piers was forced into exile, but the shifty 
king soon had him back again. A revolution followed. 
The Parliament of 13 10 took the government out of 
Edward's hands and gave it for one year to a commis- 
sion of twenty-one "Ordainers. " The "ordinances" xhe"Ordain- 
proposed by this body in 131 1 provided for the banish- ers " 
ment of the foreign favorites, and the limitation of the 
king's authority by the barons in Parliament. Edward 
accepted these laws, but broke them at the first oppor- 
tunity. The exasperated earls again took the law into 
their own hands, and put Gaveston to death. The 
weak king had to submit, and the Earl of Lancaster 
became the virtual master of the realm. 

After the death of Edward I. the English commanders 
in Scotland won isolated successes, but no comprehensive 
plan of subjugation was made or followed. The fugitive 
Bruce, encouraged, says the tale, by the perseverance 
of a spider spinning and respinning its torn web, re- 
sumed his efforts. The English garrisons, left unsup- 
ported, surrendered one by one, until in 13 14 Stirling, 
the only English stronghold left, was itself at the point 
of yielding. Edward tried to relieve the post, but 
Bruce' s Scotchmen beat the king's knights at Bannock- herfndepend- 
burn, June 24, 1314. This signal victory gave Bruce Soctburn 131*. 
the absolute sovereignty of Scotland. 

The Earl of Lancaster was now almost supreme in 
England, but his use of his high position raised up pow- 
erful enemies. The weak king, craving support, adopted 
Hugh le Despenser, father and son, granting them such 



\22 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



wealth and honors as his restricted means allowed. All 
the old jealousy of Gaveston was aroused against the 
new recipients of royal favor. Parliament sentenced 
the two Despensers to forfeiture and exile (1322). But 
the whirligig of fortune soon sent the earl to the block, 
despite his popularity. 

Lancaster's death left the national party without a 
leader, and for a few months the Despensers had their 
own way. The thunder-cloud which was to blast them 
gathered on the eastern shore of the Channel. The 
accession of a new king in France, Charles IV., made it 
necessary for Edward to renew in person his oath of 
fealty for his small continental dominions. But his 
mentors dared not trust him out of their hands, nor yet 
to accompany him, for England would rise against them 
in their absence, and there was more than one whetted 
dagger for them in the French court, swarming with 
English exiles. In 1325 the queen, herself a French 
princess, went over ami persuaded her husband to send 
their son and heir, Prince Edward, to her. Mother and 
son straightway turned against the king. Roger Mor- 
timer, an English lord who had escaped Lancaster's 
fate, hind troops for the invasion of England. They 
landed in September, [326, the queen proclaiming her- 
self the liberator of the realm from the king's false 
counselors. The Londoners joined her, and the king, 
after a weak resistance, abandoned the struggle. The 
Despensers, elder and younger, were put to death. A 
Parliament at Westminster (January, 1327) declared 
the king faithless and unfit to rule, and the broken- 
spirited monarch made no defense. He resigned the 
crown in favor of his thirteen-year-old son, whose 
mother, guided by Roger Mortimer, reigned until the 
death of the king. The unhappy Edward was confined 



The Plantagenet Kings. 123 

in Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered September De athofEd- 
2I j 127, warcl n -> '327- 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. Simon de Montfort. 

Simon de Montfort. Pauli. (Epochs of English His- 
tory. ) 

The Rise of the People and Growth of Parliament. 
Rowley. (Epochs of English History.) 

2. The English Universities. 

History of the University of Cambridge. J. B. Mullin- 

ger. 
History of the University of Oxford. G. C. Brodrick. 

3. Edward I. as a Statesman. 

Edward the First. T. F. Tout. 

The Early Plantagenets. W. Stubbs. (Epochs of 
Modern History.) 

4. Scotland's Struggle for Independence. 

History of Scotland. Burton. 

Story of Scotland. (Story of the Nations Series.) 

Fiction, Etc. 
Scottish Chiefs. Jane Porter. 
Castle Dangerous. Scott. 
Siege of Kenilworth. L. S. Stanhope. 
Edward II. Marlowe. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

England and France, [327 A. D.-1422 A. D.— 

From the Accession of Edward III. to 

the Death of Henry V. 



The reign of Edward III. began amid wretched con- 
ditions — the Scots plundering the northern marches, the 
French trespassing upon the English continental prov- 
ince, the deposed king a prisoner, the new king a child, 
and the regency controlled by Queen Isabella and her 
paramour, Mortimer. The regents made a disreputable 
peace with Scotland (1328), signing away at North- 
ampton whatever feudal rights Edward III. might have 
been entitled to in that kingdom. Scotland was free, 
and Robert Bruce was its king. 

This disgraceful treaty of Northampton aroused the 
English nobles against Mortimer, but he was strongly 
intrenched. His destruction came when least expected. 
lulu aid was eighteen years of age in 1330 — old enough 
to feel keenly the shame of the situation. He made en- 
trance with an armed band of his close friends into Mor- 
timer's presence in Nottingham Castle and seized the 
offender, who, once bereft of authority, was quickly 
sentenced by the lords in Parliament and hurried to a 
traitor's death at Tyburn. 

Edward III. now assumed personal direction of the 
government. His attempt to reassert English authority 
over Scotland was frustrated by the outbreak of hostil- 
ities with France. This was the famous '* Hundred 
Years' War," which lasted, with intervals of truce, from 

124 



England and France. 



125 



1336 to the middle of the fifteenth century, from Ed- 
ward III. to Henry VI. It opened with the claim of Y ^ r s'Wa r ed 
Edward to the crown of France ; at its close Henry was 
master of the single French town of Calais. The waters 
of the Channel and 
the fields of France 
furnished battle- 
grounds, and Eng- 
land was not once 
invaded by her for- 
eign enemies save 
when their allies, the 
Scots, broke over the t 
northern border. 
The struggle ex- 
tended over the reign 
of five English kings, 
glorified the names of 
Edward, the Black 
Prince, and Joan of 

Arc, and afforded the famous battles of Crecy, Poitiers, 
and Agincourt. This war, continuing through four gen- 
erations, did much to deepen and perpetuate the national 
enmity between the people of the two kingdoms. 

The first Plantagenet kings ruled wide domains in 
France, acquired by inheritance from their Norman and France and 
Angevin ancestors and by dowry of their French wives. 
The weakness of John had let most of these lands slip, 
and for several reigns previous to the accession of Ed- 
ward III. Aquitaine, in Southern France, with a narrow 
coast-strip in the north, alone remained. Of this 
remnant the French kings were covetous. They had 
designs, moreover, upon the Flemish cities Ghent, Ant- 
werp, and others, whose manufactures of wool com- 




View of Windsor Castle, showing the 
Great Rounu Tower. 



England. 



126 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

mended them to the especial favor of sheep-raising 
England. With those existing mounds of hostility, but 
a slight provocation was needed to bring the two 
nations to actual war. Upon the death of Charles IV. 
of France leaving no direct male heir, Edward III. laid 
claim to the throne by right of his French mother, the 
sister of the late king. 1 The French lawyers, however, 
declared that by the Salie Law' no female might wear 
or transmit the crown. Edward was accordingly passed 
over, and Philip VI. of Valois succeeded peacefully 
( [328). Seven or eight years later, when Philip was 
encroaching upon the English holdings and succoring 
the Scots, Edward reasserted his right and abandoned 
the Seottisli war for this greater struggle. Such Euro- 
pean alliances as were possible he made, and with such 
( ierman soldiers as he could hire from their peddling 
princes he recruited his ranks. In the great sea-fight 
off Sluys, 3 in June, 1340, he won the first of his French 

1 Edward's Claim to the French Crown. 

(French sovereigns in italic.) 

(1) PHILIP III., 

" on-: BOLD," 

reigned i • •<> 1 385. 



I I 

(2) PHILIP //'.. Charles, 

"the fair." Count of Valois. 

I I 

,1 r— — I (7) PHILIP VI. 

l.;)/i'r/.v.V.,(5) PHILIP V. (6) ( HARLES IV.. Isabel, OF valois, 

d. 1316. THETALL," " THE FAIR," wife ot I'M. II. '■ I32h— 1350. 

( 0. /<>//■ v /., d.1322. d. 1328. ofEngland. ... M L M ,, 

(t. I}l6. I (M.A'Z/.V // 

(7IEDWDIII. " ran coop, 
ofEngland. r. 1350-1364. 

1 The sixty-second title of the ancient code of the Salian Franks restricted 
the succession of any except males to the lands allotted to vassals in return 
for military services. In tne fourteenth century this provision was extended 

to the crown. It is clear that in a feudal state it was essential that the tenant 
should be an able-bodied fighting man. 

» This splendid victory gained for Edward the title " Kin? of the Pea." He 
wrote, ui board his ship Thomas to his ten-year-old son Edward an account of 
the battle: "Soon alter the hour of noon, with the tide, we, in the name of 
God, and in the confidence of our right quarrels, entered into the said port 
upon our enemies, who had placed their ships in very strong array, and who 
made a very noble defense all that day and the night alter. But God, by his 



England and France. 127 




successes, and indeed the brilliant record of the royal 
navy has had few more terrible triumphs. 

The king's son Edward, feared in France and loved 
in England as "the Black Prince," was the hero of his ™ me B e lack 
father's wars. The campaign of 1346 was his first in 
the field, and on August 26 he — a youth of sixteen- — 
commanded the right wing of his father's army in the 
battle of Crecy. The French, with an immensely 
superior force, 
made the at- jjj7 ,£ErE^t 
tack. There vPpSfi*4\ 
was a striking 
difference be- 
tween the two 

Cannon used at Crecy. 

armies, as 

there was indeed between the two countries. France 
was wealthy, populous, and in the full flower of feudal 
splendor, and the men who fought under her banner 
were the proud barons and their mailed retainers and 
mercenaries. England was comparatively free ; her 
soldiers were the stout yeomen of the shires, accustomed Crecy, 1346. 
to draw their cloth-yard arrows to the head, and learn- 
ing to fight for their country rather than for a feudal 
lord. The battle was a slaughter ; the boy Edward 
fought with the skill and bravery of a veteran, 

While his most mighty father on a hill 
Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp 
Forage in blood of French nobility. 

power and miracle, granted us the victory over our said enemies, for which 
we thank him as devoutly as we can.. . . . The number of ships, galleys, 
and great barges of our enemies amounted to 190, which were all taken exi epl 
twenty-four only. These fled and some of them have since been taken at sea. 
And the number of men-at-arms and other armed people amounted to 35,000, 
of which number, by estimation, 5,000 escaped. . . . Thus God our Lord 
has shown full favor, for which we and all our friends are ever bound to rendei 
him grace and thanks." In commemoration of his victory gold coins were 
struck, the design showing the king standing in a ship, in his right hand a 
sword, in his left a shield bearing the arms of France and England. 



128 Twenty Centuries of English History 



Calais. 



The French lost 1,200 knights and 30,000 footmen, 
more than the whole English army. King' Philip fled 
in dismay, and King Edward, embracing the prince, 
exclaimed, "Fair son, my son you are in truth, for 
loyally have you acquitted yourself to-day!" 1 

In the autumn an English army at Neville's Cross 

Neville's Cross, routed the Scottish king. David Bruce, whom his 

1346. t ■ 

French allies had set on to invade England in the ab- 
sence of its chief defender. In France the English 
power widened steadily ; after a year the beleaguered 

The fail of P 0I "t °' Calais'-' was starved into surrender. Its stub- 

born resistance and its villainous reputation as a resort 
of Channel pirates had exasperated the king. Edward 
promised to spare the people if six leading citizens 
should give themselves up to him. Five patriots fol- 
lowed Eustace St. Pierre, who first volunteered, and 
the old chroniclers tell how the king's fierce anger 
melted under the warm tears of his queen, Philippa, 
who besought her lord to show mercy " for the sake of 
the merciful Lord Christ." 

In 1355 the struggle was renewed. The Black 
Prince sallied forth from Aquitaine, pillaging the 
pleasant farms of Central France, which had never 
known the sight of war. The plunder sufficed to fit 

1 At short range the English arrows could pierce plate armor; at three hun- 
dred yards they wore lata! to horses and light-armed soldiers. At Crecy the 
English fought on loot, even the knights being dismounted. The French 
army, outnumbering the English live to one, advanced up a hill, the Genoese 
crossbowmen in the van, then the mailed horsemen, with the irregular militia 
in the rear. The English archers threw the Genoese into confusion by the 
rapidity and accuracy of their discharge. The charge of the French knights 
was stopped by the same deadly lire. For hours the knights "surged along 
the English front," but the line was inflexible, and without moving from their 
tracks the English slew more than a fourth of the enemy. This successful 
stand of the yeomen infantry against the feudal horsemen revolutionized the 
art of war. 

- Gunpowder and cannon were just then coming into use. Edward had 
uide cannon at Calais, small pieces made of iron bars, welded and hooped. 
Cannon balls were of Stone, and the larger bombards could be discharged not 
more than thrice in an hour. Nevertheless they soon displaced battering-rams 
for the demolition o( fortifications, and the days of the Norman castle, so long 
considered impregnable, were numbered. It was not until the next century 
that heavy guns were employed for field service. 



England and France. 129 



out another army in the following year, at whose head 

the prince ravaged the valley of the Loire and gained 

the road to Paris. The new king, John, called "the 

Good," rallied 60,000 Frenchmen to block the way. 

Young Edward, with 8,000 English and Gascons, 

entrapped at Poitiers, offered peace and a restoration of 

his conquests rather than to risk a fight. But John, . 

sure of his prey, scorned the terms. The battle of 

Poitiers ensued September 19, 1356. By a reckless Poitiers, 1356. 

attack the Frenchmen threw away the advantage of 

superior numbers ; and the skilful dispositions of the 

English and their fierce charges won the day for the 

Black Prince. ' King John was taken captive and was 

exhibited to the Londoners in the triumphal procession Theca tive 

over which England went wild in the spring of 1357. kinginLon- 

For two years more France was a prey to anarchy and 

Edward ; then the regents consented to the treaty of 

Bretigny, which closed the first stage of the war. 

King John was to be released on the payment of 

3,000,000 crowns in gold. King Edward renounced 

his empty claim to the throne of France and the duchy 

of Normandy, but he was confirmed in the possession Treaty of 

J x Bretigny. 

of Aquitaine, Poitou, Guisnes, and Calais, and it is to 
be noted that he held these lands henceforth independ- 
ently as king of England, not as a vassal of France. 

The Black Prince remained on the Continent as ruler 
of the English possessions, but his ambition could not 
be bridled. His own province being at peace, he 

1 Mindful of the fate of the mounted knights at Crecy, John dismounted his 
knights and sent them in armed with lances six feet long. The English 
were so well posted that his advance was up a hill covered with vines and 
underbrush, and crossed by hedges— rough country for warriors so over- 
weighted with steel plate armor that if one of them lost his footing he could 
not rise without help. The English archers threw the first line back upon 
the second, and their mounted men-at-arms charging the confused masses 
completed the rout. " The French were so dismayed by the result of Crecy 
and Poitiers that for some years they would not accept battle, but shut them- 
selves up behind walls in towns and castles." 



130 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



sought employment for his sword in the broils of the 
neighboring peninsula of Spain. The expenses of this 
pastime were burdensome to Aquitaine, and the emis- 
saries of the French passed in and out among his 
people, inciting- them to rebellion. In 1569 France and 
England grappled again, but the Black Prince had won 
his last great battle. Broken in health, despairing of 
his own succession, and fearful lest his brothers should 
bar his son Richard from the throne, he became irri- 
table and cruel. His ill health and the interests of the 
succession recalled him to England. His brother, 
John, Duke of Lancaster, famous from his Flemish 
jotm of Gaunt, birthplace as "John of (".aunt" (Ghent), led an Eng- 
lish army into France, but accomplished nothing. 
Castle after castle of Aquitaine admitted French gar- 
risons, and by the end of 1371 only two important 
towns, Bordeaux .mil Bayonne, remained to England of 
all her wide realm in Southern France. Within fifteen 
years the results of Crecy and Poitiers had vanished, 
and the bloody campaigns of the black Prince had 
produced nothing but misery and lasting hatred be- 
tween England and France. 

The reign of the third Edward has other claims to 
attention as important as the French wars. Within 
this period of fifty years Parliament acquired the form 

Two houses of .... ... ,„. . . . . 

Parliament. which it still wears. 1 here was a tune when its tour 

orders — the clergy, barons, knights, and citizens — met 

separately, each considering such matters as concerned 

itself. Put after the Parliament of [341 the prelates of 

the church and the specially summoned barons or 

"peers" met as one body, while the elected members, 

both the knights of the shires and the borough or town 

representatives, met as another. So arose the Houses 

of Lords ami Commons. 



England ami France. 131 



court. 



The "Black Death," 1 a horrible Asiatic pestilence 
which was ravaging Europe, swept over England in Seath'*^ 
1348, and broke out repeatedly at intervals throughout 
the century. No pestilence of modern times can be 
compared to it for destructiveness. Such a diminution 
of the population had a deep influence upon society, 
and particularly upon the condition of the laboring 
classes, as the troubles of the next reign will show. 

The plague and the wars with France told terribly 
upon the strength of England. The clergy suffered 
least. Their lands and houses, constituting a large 
share of the best property in England, were free from 
ordinary taxation, and their prelates and dependents 
had not to offer themselves as targets for French bow- £f,^j onsat 
men. The jealous baronage, led by the ambitious 
John of Gaunt, attacked the privileges of this class. In 
his father's lifetime he gained control at court and filled 
the high offices with laymen, ousting the bishops and 
abbots whom the king had raised to these positions. 
The incompetence of the new men and the failure of 
the French campaigns brought about an alliance of the 
clergy under William of Wykeham 2 and the commons. 
The last act of the Black Prince was to side with the 
people against his brother. In the Parliament of 1376 
the commons had the audacity to protest against John's 

1 The caravans of the China merchants introduced the germs of this 
bubonic plague into Europe. It first appeared iii England in August, 1348, 
and before Christmas there were not priests enough in the infected diocese 
to shrive the dying. The symptoms were painful swellings of the glands, 
carbuncles on the fleshy parts, and ominous red spots, "God's tokens," on 
the breast and back. It often ran its course within twenty-four hours, and at 
least fifty per cent of the cases were fatal. It raged through all classes, in 
city and country alike. In London some 20,000 died and anew cemetery of 
thirteen aires was needed for their burial. Norwich, the second city of the 
kingdom, lost one third of its population. All England probably lost more 
than one third and did not make up the loss for two hundred years. 

2 This great churchman, politician, and architect (he was the rebuilder of 
Winchester Cathedral) was also founder of the English public school system. 
His model boys' school at Winchester still flourishes upon his endowment 
and in his buildings, and his "New College" at Oxford, which was insti- 
tuted to counteract the teachings of Wyclif, is the model of many of the later 
colleges. His tomb and statue are in his cathedral church. 



i;>j Twenty Centuries of English History 



" The I 
Parliament," 



Death of the 
Black Prince, 



lVathofEd- 
ward 111.. i.;r; 



The English 
language. 



extravagance and mismanagement; for the first time in 
English history two of the royal ministers were accused, 
convicted, and condemned ; the court was purged of 
its unpopular courtiers, ami Alice Perrers, the favorite 

of the king, was 
banished. These 
and other reforms 
won for this Par- 
liament the desig- 
nation "the Good." 
No sooner was it 
dissolved than John 
of Gaunt resumed 
control, reversed its 
enactments, re- 
stored the favorites, 
and made a fresh 
assault on William 
of Wykeham and 
the clergy. Prince 
Edward died June 
S, 1376, and Parliament acknowledged his little son, 
Richard, as heir. In June of the following year the 
kino- himself died. 

The intense hatred of Frenchmen which pervaded 
England in this century had one permanent effect. 
Until now it had been doubtful what language would 
prevail in the British Islands. The Romans had found 
a Celtic dialect there, and had introduced the Latin 
tongue. The Anglo-Saxon migration had driven the 
Celtic people into Wales and Scotland, and had estab- 
lished the Anglo-Saxon, or old English, language so 
firmly that the great infusion of Panes among- the peo- 
ple of the islands left but an inappreciable number of 




\Y:i 1 1 am ok Wykeham, Bishop ok Win- 
chester. 



Ens'/and and France. 



133 



Danish words. The Norman Conquest in the eleventh 
century brought in the French language, and made it 
the common speech of the court and the aristocracy 
throughout the time of the Norman and Angevin sov- 
ereigns, while the Latin, now corrupted and fallen from 
the classical standards, was the language of the church 
and literature. Beneath this Norman-French upper- 
crust the masses of peasantry and towns-people clung 
to their English mother tongue. Its disuse by scholars 
suffered it to pass through many changes, until the 
Anglo-Saxon of King Alfred was no longer the English 
of the time of Edward III. By the close of the four- 
teenth century it had been changed in form and sub- 
stance, and its vocabulary had been largely swollen with 
words from the French and Latin. No important books 
had until now been written in this dialect, which was 
ridiculed by the upper classes. But the Hundred Years' 
War brought all things French into disfavor. English 
began to displace other tongues in the schools ; in 1362 
courts of law began to use English, "because French 
had become unknown." William Langland wrote his 
homely poem, "The Vision of William concerning Piers 
Plowman," in English, that it might be more widely 
read. The poet Gower, and his contemporary, Chau- 
cer, 1 who died in 1400, used the common country 
speech for their compositions. Chaucer's " Canterbury 
Tales" and the prose pamphlets and translated Bible of 
John Wyclif practically settled the question that the 
new English should be spoken and written by English- 
men. 

1 The dialects of English varied so greatlv among themselves that in 
Chaucer's time a north of England man and a southerner could scarcely 
understand each other's speech. The Midland dialect, which was fairly 
intelligible to all, gained the ascendancy in London, the common meeting- 
place of Englishmen. Chaucer the Londoner popularized this dialect In- 
putting his poem into it, and Caxton, the first English printer, gave it 
greater currency, and assured its permanence. 



Langland. 



Gower. 
Chaucer. 



134 Twenty Centuries of English History, 



John Wy< 



" rhe Morning 

the 
Reformation." 



John Wyclif, 1 sometimes called the first Protestant, 
was educated for the priesthood and became a famous 
teacher in Oxford University. His study of the Scrip- 
tures convinced him that the religion of England had 

drifted away from Christ. The clergy should preach 
the Gospel and lead Christ-like lives ; he found them 
amassing- fortunes, misusing the ecclesiastical courts, 
and seeking temporal rather than spiritual influence. 
To inculcate his own doctrines he sent out "poor 
preachers." clad in russet gowns, to labor among the 
lowly. His active mind did not Stop at this reform ; 
, ^^H " ~ T *>■ v he denied the right of 

the pope to levy taxes 
upon England. The 
tribute which King- 
John had pledged his 
kingdom to pay was 
thirty-three years in 
arrears, and Parlia- 
ment boldly refused 
t i pay it more. Wyclif 
applauded and de- 
fended this defiance 
of Rome. John of 
Gaunt, in his quarrel 
w i t h W ill ia m o f 
John Wycuf. Wykeham and the 

clergy, was thus brought for a time into sympathy 
with Wyclif, and protected him from the archbishop's 




i Wyclif was convinced that the Bible was an all-sufficient rule of Christian 
faith and practice. Hesaid: "Christen men and women, olde and young, 
shulde study last in the New Testament, and no simple man of wit shulde be 
afered unmesurabry to study in the text of Holy SViit. . . . The New 
testament is oi ful autoritie, and open to understanding of simple men. as to 
the poynts that ben most needful to salvation." One verse of the Magnificat 
will show the character of his version: "And Marye seyde, My soule 
worschipe the Lorde and my spirit joiede in God myn helpe." 



England and France. [35 

condemnation for heresy. Repudiation of the worldly 
ambition of the church led the free-thinking priest to 
an examination of its doctrines, and thence to his denial 
(1381) of the dogma of "transubstantiation." To ox- 
plain his position he wrote a host of tracts, in English, 
written copies of which, even before the invention of 
printing, made their way among the people and helped 
the open-air preachers to found the sect called " Lol- The Lollarfls. 
lards," the forerunners of the English Reformation. 
Wyclif died in retirement as parish priest of Lutter- 
worth. Mis later years were devoted to his grandest 
work, the translation of the Bible into the tongue of 
the common people of England. He died on the last 
day of the year [384, reckoned a man of great note in 
his own day, and now esteemed among the first men of 
Christendom.' 

Several sons of King Edward 111. grew to manhood: 
(1) Edward, the Black Prince, who dud just before his JfcSd'iii. 
father, leaving a son, Prince Richard; (2) Lionel, 
Puke of Clarence (the poet Chaucer's patron), who 
died in 1368, leaving a daughter, Philippa, the ances- 
tress of the earls of March; (3) John "of Gaunt," 
Duke of Lancaster, the ancestor of the Lancastrian 
kings; ^4^ Edmund of Langley, Puke of York, from 
whose line sprang the Yorkist kings; .u\d (5) the 
Duke of Gloucester. 

Richard II., son of the Black Prince, ascended the KK . hmiII 
throne at the age of eleven (1377), his uncle John of , 377-i399- 

1 Alter his death Wyclif was excommunicated; his body was taken out of 
the churchyard and burnt, and the ashes scattered on the water of a running 
stream— the Avon— all by the pope's order, The great influence of this 
pioneei Pi otestant ga> e 1 tse to this popular rhyme : 
" The Avon to the Severn runs 
The Severn to the sea ; 
And Wyclif's dust shall spread abroad 
Wide as the waters be. 
Richard II. s queen, Anne of Bohemia, introduced Wyclif's works into 
Bohemia and so kindled the reforming spirit in the breast of John Muss. 



136 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Social changes. 



Gaunt being in the prime of life. England was suffer- 
ing from the war taxation and the ravages of the 
plague. Moreover, the common people were now 
fairly astir. The three Edwards had brought the 
nation to a consciousness of its unity and its inde- 
pendence of any foreign power : the development of 
Parliament had admitted a new class to a share in the 
government, and the spirit of Wyclif and his itinerant 
preachers was working among the stolid country folk, 
and teaching them to question for themselves their 
social and political system. 

A change had in due course come over the con- 
dition of the lower classes. Slavery no longer existed, 
and serfage and villeinage in its various forms had 
nearly passed away. The serf, or villein, who had 
lived upon his master's land in return for certain labor 
performed, had been released from this obligation, and 
now paid a certain rent in cash or produce for his 
holding, in place of the old manual labor. The Black 
Death appeared at the time when many villeins were 
winning, and many thought they had already won. 
their freedom from this degrading service. The great 
landowners saw their laborers dying off like sheep. 
The flocks strayed and grain rotted in the fields. To 
rhe labor secure herdsmen and harvesters the landowners ob- 

market, 

tained from king and Parliament, in the years following 
the plague, certain "Statutes of Laborers." requiring 
all landless men and women to work at a fixed low 
wage for any employer who should demand their 
service ; and the laborer was forbidden to go beyond 
the limits of his parish in search of employment. 

The proprietors, at their wits' end for labor, even 
reasserted their claims upon those villeins and serfs 
who had gained partial freedom. The sons and grand- 



England and France. \\~ 



sons of freedmen wore haled before justices and com- 
pelled to serve the family to which their ancestors had 
belonged. Bitter discontent and frequent local out- 
breaks mark these times. The protest of Wyclif Socialistic 

r • agitators. 

against the luxury of the church was taken up by his 
disciples and pressed to its full extent. The hard- 
working peasants saw the nobles and bishops gor- 
geously arrayed while their tenants perished with 
hunger. John Rail, "a mad priest," as a courtier 
called him. seemed sane enough to the crowds of Kent- 
ishmen who listened to his socialistic sermons. Equality 
was his gospel, community of property the burden of 
his homilies. 

When Adam delved, and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman? 

was a text with which he roused the jealousy and envy 
of his countrymen. ' 

In 13S0 Parliament levied a heavy poll-tax on all 
above the age of fourteen, and the next summer the 
poor farmers and artisans, excited by the injustice which 
they had suffered, broke out in the rebellion known as 
"the Peasants' Revolt." Homely jingles in the com- 
mon country people's English passed from mouth to " Therv.is.mt> 

. . . . Revolt, [381. 

mouth, giving the signals for the rising, and it seemed 
as if the whole nation had risen in one day. Wat Tyler Wa , 
and John Hales, with many thousand farm-hands at 
their backs, marched on Canterbury and dismantled the 
archbishop's palace, entered London, burning John of 
Gaunt' S palace, breaking into the Tower, and killing 

en ("Short History of the English People") quotes Ball's teaching: 
" Good people, things will never go well in England - >odsbenot 

common, and so long as there be villeins and ^emle men. By what right are 
they whom we call lords greater folk than we? On what grounds have they 
deserved it? Why do they hold us in serfage? If we all came of the same 
father and mother, Adam and Eve, how can the) saj 01 prove that thej are 
better th.ui we, it it be not th.it they make US e..i 11 foi them by out toil wh.it 
they spend in their pride 



r.38 Twenty Centuries of English History 



the archbishop and the poll-tax commissioner. Along 

the north bank of the Thames came another host from 

Essex, killing lawyers and burning deeds, charters, and 

mortgages as they advanced. King Richard, a lad of 

fifteen, sent the* Essex men home with promises that 

serfage should exist no more. Two days afterward he 

dispersed Wat Tyler's men at Smithfield. The lord 

mayor stabbed the peasant leader for insulting his king, 

and Richard proclaimed himself captain of the rioters. 

They heard with joy his pledges of redress ami then 

dispersed. The insurrection profited little. The king 

and nobles raised armies and stamped it out without 

mercy. Seven thousand of the poor peasantry were 

put to the sword or sent to the gallows before autumn. 

The last of The socialist Ball was hanged, drawn, and quartered. 

John Kail. & ' l 

Parliament, wherein sat scarcely a man who was not a 
landlord, declared that the king had no power or right 
to give away private property. So villeinage and serf- 
age remained lawful, but the natural causes which had 
been at work before the pestilence soon revived, and by 
a rapid and peaceful revolution free labor took the place 
of the ancient form. ' 

After eight years of subjection to his uncles — the 
Tyranny. regents Lancaster and Gloucester — the young king 

came to the throne. He soon abandoned all restraint 
and grasped at despotism. Submissive legislators, awed 
or paid by the king, granted him revenues for life, and 
appointed a commission of eight men to act in the place 
of Parliament. 

Richard ruled henceforth with little respect for the 
rights of nobles, clergy, or commoners. Two power- 

i To keep the peasants from improving theii social condition, and maintain 
the supply of agricultural laborers, acts of Parliament "forbade the child of 
any tiller of the soil t,. learn a craft or trade in town." rhe king was even 
.iskol to prevent them from sending thru sons to school, Oxford and 
Cambl idge tin lied a cold shoulder upon the sons of the peasant-tat mei S. 



England and France. 139 



ful lords, Thomas Mowbray, Puke of Norfolk, and the 

ambitious Henry of Bolingbroke, he banished (1398). Bolingbroke 

A few months later, when Bolingbroke's father, old 

John of Gaunt, died, the king seized his rich estates. 

Henry complained of this injustice and set about to 

recover his rights. The king was absent in Ireland 

when Bolingbroke landed in Yorkshire (1391)) with 

other exiles, who made common cause against the 

tyrant. Percy of Northumberland and other northern 

nobles joined Henry. Even his mule Edmund, 1 Hike 

of York, regent in Richard's absence, turned from the 

setting to the rising sun. Upon the king's return he 

found himself forsaken and defenseless in the presence 

of a hostile army. Henry at first demanded his own 

inheritance and a share in the government ; but this 

did not long appease his appetite for power. A 

Parliament at Westminster declared the king incapable 

... , , ii-i • • -tm Deposition of 

of reigning and decreed his deposition. 1 lie nearest Richardn., 
heir in direct descent was an Edmund Mortimer, great- 
grandson of Lionel, Duke of Clarence. But his tender 
years and lack of friends defrauded him of a hearing, 
when the victorious Henry of Bolingbroke, now in his „ 

J ° Henry IV., 

forty-fourth year, demanded the crown by right of 1399-1411 
descent and by right of recovery from the evil govern- 
ment of Richard. 1 Parliament accepted Henry as the 
lawful sovereign. The wretched Richard was im- 

1 The 1 iesi 1 n 1 of l Iknry IV. 
EDWARD III. 

I 



III I I 

Edward, William. Lionel, John Edmund 

"the Duke of Clarence, of Gaunt—Kate ofLangley, 

black prince," I Swynford, Duke 

d. 1376. TheHouseof HENRYIV., | of York. 

Mortimer. "BOLINGBROKE," The | 

RICHARD II., r. 1399-1413. House The House 

deposed i.^oyby of of York. 
1 Inn v 1 Y. The Beaufoit. 
1 I louse of 
I ..in. astei . 



140 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

prisoned in the Castle of Pontefract, where not long 
after he died, or was murdered. lie was the eighth 
and last of the Angevin kings in the direct line. The 
House of Plantagenet now divides among the descend 
ants of Edward [II. 's two younger sons, the Dukes of 
Lancaster and York. It was in Richard's reign that 
statute «f the Statute of Praemunire, originally framed in lulu aid 

Praemunire. 

III.'s time, was reenacted. This was one of the twists 

by which England shook off the hand of the pope. 
This law made it a grave crime for any person to bring 
into England any hull or letter ol excommunication 

from the pope without the consent of the king. 

As Henry IV. hail his own right to the throne to 

vindicate he could afford neither idleness nor oppres 

sion. lie was under obligation to the northern nobles, 

who had helped him to win .the crown, and to the 

archbishop, who had put it on his head. Hut the 

rhePercys friendship with the Percys soon turned to open war. 

crushed. , , 

The Earl of Northumberland, with his son, that hotspur, 
Harry Percy, had expended blood and treasure in 
guarding the frontier against the Scots. For this the 
king did not reward them. Marry Percy hail married 
into the family of Mortimer, and thus became related to 
Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, already mentioned 
Weishrevoit, as Richard's lawful heir. Wales revolted in 1400 under 

1400, ~ 

Glendower. ( hven ( ilendou er. ' Hut the power of the king heat 

down all resistance. 

If the king, as the Percys charged, broke faith with 

1 Owen Glendower, the hero of the Welsh struggle foi independence, was 
a man of education, property, and liberal ideas. His just quarrel with .1 
neighboring noble was misrepresented to Henry, who used force against him. 
Upon this, Glendower rallied liis countrymen in arms, and for five years, 
aided by tin- inclement weather ami the uncommonly difficult country, foiled 
every attempt ol the English to restore their authority, His own Celtic 
followers hailed him as " Prince of Wales," and the English soldiers dreaded 
him as a sorcerei who had tin- prince of the powei ol the air in ins service 
He nevei yielded, though his country was subdued. In the traditions ol his 
ii. e he is the sleeping hero who shall some day lead them to victory ovei the 
Saxon. 



England and France. 141 



the barons, he kept it with the bishops. The lords of 

the church could not disregard the practical tendency of The laws 

01 J against 

the Wyclifite teachings. Little as the abbots and Lollardry, 

y 1401. 

deans may have cared for purity of doctrine, they had a 
very sensitive regard for the rights of property, which 
were recklessly assailed by the leveling Lollards. The 
first year of the fifteenth century ( 1401 ) is memorable 
for the passage of a "Statute of Heresy." King 
Henry had already urged the regular clergy to put a 
stop to the preaching of the "simple priests" of 
Wyclif's sect. This act of Parliament gave the church 
authority to arrest heretical preachers, teachers, and 
writers, to imprison them, and, on their persistent re- 
fusal to abjure their errors, to burn them alive in a 
public place, that the people might see and be ad- 
monished. The bishops wire eager to begin their 
persecution. William Sautre (1401) and John Badby Two martyrs. 
(1410), a priest and a tailor, were the fust martyrs of 
the reign — the leaders in a procession of Englishmen, 
Catholic and Protestant, who furnished food for perse- 
cuting flames for two centuries. 

Henry's reign was brief and full of trouble. On 
May 20, 141 3, he died in the Jerusalem Chamber of 
Westminster Abbey, leaving his kingdom to his son, 
the " Prince Hal" of Shakespeare. 

Henry V. was twenty-five years old at the time of his 
father's death, and had already approved himself a sol- i.ii.V-Maz." 
dier in the Welsh wars. Comely of face and figure, 
brave and skilful in war, and ambitious to restore the 
military reputation of England, Harry of .Monmouth 
became a popular hero like Richard Lion-heart and 
Edward, the Black Prince. 

The Lollards troubled the first months of the reign. 
Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, an able soldier and a o'ldcasUe. 



1 4- Twenty Cenhtries of English //.- 



trusted friend of the king, turned Wyclifite, and tried 
to protect his fellow-believers. He was denounced as a 
traitorous demagogue, and some of his actions con- 
vinced Henry that he was plotting the destruction of the 
king and the chief men of the council. Cobham was 
burned, and many Lollards perished with him. ' 

Henry's French campaigns mark the second period 
second stage of the Hundred Years' War. The king of France, 

of the Hundred «, , , .. . , . . , , ,- , • 

years' War. Lnarles VI., was insane and his nobles were fighting 

among themselves for the control of the government, 

Henry seized the opportunity to reassert his claim to 

the French crown, basing his pretentions upon the 

rights of his grandfather, Edward III. In 1415 he 

crossed to Calais with an army, intending to engage in 

turn with the contending factions. Hut at his approach 

contention ceased, and it was a united host far greater 

Battle of Agin- than his own which faced his bowmen at Agincourt, 

COurt, I4I5- /-w 1 TT- M lit 

October 25, 14 15. His peril was greater than that or 
Edward at Poitiers, for his men were sick and starving, 
ami in his position defeat meant the utter destruction of 
his army. Before the combat the Earl of Westmore- 
land had wished that some of England's idle warriors 
might he in their ranks. Not so the king, as Shake- 
speare voices his reply : 

No, my tair cousin : 
If we are market! to die, we are enow 
To do our country loss ; and if to live, 
The fewer men the greater share ol honor. 
God's will ! I pray thee wish not one man more. 

The battle was stubbornly contested, but at A.gin- 
court, as at Crecy, no weapon could withstand the 

'In his trial this general, popular!} known as "the good Lord Cobham," 
declared: " Before God and man t profess solemnly here that 1 nevei abstained 
from sin until 1 knew Wyclif, whom ye so much disdain." Ho was suspended 
from a gallows by chains and roasted ovei a slow fire. 



lino- land and France. 143 



cloth-yard shafts from the English longbows. King 
Henry fought in the thick of the battle, and had his 
helmet split open by a French sword. His intrepid 
courage inspired his men to exploits almost beyond 
belief, and the sun set upon a field strewn with French 
corpses. 1 The victors were so few and ill-provided that 
they could not follow up their success. In 1417 Henry 
returned to resume the conquest of Normandy, when a 
sudden turn in French affairs threw open the doors to a 
more splendid triumph. John, Duke of Burgundy, the 
most powerful vassal of France, was murdered by par- 
tisans of the dauphin Charles. The vengeful Burgun- 
dians betrayed their country to the English. The treaty Treatyof 
of Troyes (1420) made Henry of England regent of Tr °y es - 
France during the life of Charles VI. and heir to the 
French crown at his death. To cement the union 
Henry married the Princess Catharine. The country 
north of the Loire accepted him as regent, but in the 
southern provinces the disinherited dauphin maintained 
an ineffectual struggle. 

At King Henry's death (August, 1422) his son, a , , 

& , , i. , T xtt e Death of 

babe in arms, was acknowledged King Henry VI. of Henry v., 
England and heir of France. Two months later the 
mad Charles died also, and the baby king of England 
was formally proclaimed king of France. Henry V. 
had named his two brothers, Thomas, Duke of Glou- 
cester, and John, Duke of Bedford, as regents of Eng- 
land and France respectively during the infancy of his 
son. 

1 In front of the English position at Agineourt stretched a mile of plowed 
ground, soft with recent rains. The dismounted French knights, heavily 
overweighted with their clumsy plate armor, were quite exhausted by their 
effort to advance on foot through the mire, and "stuck fast in the mud with 
the archery playing upon them. When the arrows gave out the whole Eng- 
lish army charged, and the embogged, steel-cased knights were at their mercy. 
The English loss was less than one hundred , the Fi encll lost 10,000 killed and 
many prisoners. Indeed, their armored knights could not run if they tried. 



144 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

i. The English Language. 

History of the English Language. T. R. Lounsbury. 
The English Language. R. Morris. (Article in Ency. 
Brit., Ninth Ed.) 

2. Wyclif and the Lollards. 

John Wyclif. Lewis Sergeant. (Heroes of the Na- 
tions Series.) 

Wyclif and Movements for Reform. R. L. Poole. 
(Epochs of Church History. | 

3. The Black Death. 

History of Epidemics in Britain. C. Creighton. 
The Black Death in East Anglia. Jessopp. (In " Nine- 
teenth Century," Vols. XVI., XVII.) 

4. Manners and Customs. 

English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages. Jusser- 

and. 
Chronicles of Froissart. Lord Berners. (Trans.) 
Fiction, Etc. 
Coulyng Castle. Agnes Giberne. 
Tlie White Company. A. Conan Doyle. 
Jock o' the Mill. W. Howitt. 
Lances of Lynwood. C. M. Yonge. 
Mistress Margery. Emily S. Holt. 
The Dream of John Ball. W. Morris. (Poem.) 
The Shakespearian plays of this period are : Richard II., 
Henry IV. (Parts 1 and 2), Henry V. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Lancaster and York, 1422 A. D.-1485 A. D. — 

From the Accession of Henry VI. to 

the Deposition of Richard III. 

The enormous power which Henry V. had wielded 

........ „ , The regency 

was jeopardized by his death, Even the arrangements and the council. 
which he had made for the management of the two 
kingdoms were disregarded. John, Duke of Bedford, 
was allowed to retain the regency of France and to 
continue the struggle with the dauphin, but while the 
other brother, Gloucester, was honored with the empty 
title of "protector," the government of England was 
really conducted by a council of lords — church and 
lav — directed by Gaunt' s son, Henry Beaufort, bishop 
of Winchester, who for a generation was the " pillar of 
the state." Parliament retained little influence and the 
commons almost none. The baronage had grown rich 
from the plunder of France, 1 and the church from the 
taxes of England. Through their representatives in Decadence of 
the council these two classes exercised almost absolute 
authority, and the liberties which the rise of the com- 
monalty had brought almost within reach of the Eng- 
lish nation were snatched away. 

The dauphin, whom the national party in France 
recognized as King Charles VII., occupied but a frag- p^ n ^ in 
ment of his father's dominions. By the provisions of 
the treaty of Troyes (1420) he inherited nothing, the 

1 " The age of castle-building was past, and the newly enriched nobles built 
such houses as Hurst monceaux in Sussex, a series of open courts with rooms 
built round them. The whole was surrounded by wall and moat and had the 
appearance of a castle but very link- of t lie strength of a fortress." — Hughes. 

'45 



146 glish II: > 



Charles VII. 
nice. 



Yemeni!. 



whole realm passing to the English House of Lan- 
caster, whose armies already occupied two thirds of 
France by virtue of Henry Y.'s conquests and his 
alliance with the dukes of Burgundy. This foreign 
domination could not be popular, and the private 
grudge of the Burgundians against the French royal 
family was destined to die of itself, or to be smothered 
by other interests. Whenever Burgundy should with- 
draw her hand from England's friendly grasp the Eng- 
lish power in France must fall. 

Such was the French situation when John of Bedford 
became regent. Could he have depended, as did his 
brother, upon the united support of the nobility at 
home he might have given some degree of permanence 
to the English domination of France. Charles VII. 
was weak in mind and appalled by the wreck of his 
kingdom. The South, which remained true to him, 
and the patriots who clung to the royal line could 
draw little inspiration from his feeble efforts to expel 
the foreigners. The Scots and Milanese who were 
sent to his assistance were terribly beaten at Verneuil 
114^4 ' . ' Orleans, the finest city remaining to Charles, 
was invested by an English army, and was on the point 
of yielding when one of the most marvelous events in 
the world's history- a peasant girl stepped forth and 
saved France. 

Joan of Arc, or " Jeanne d' Are," was thedaughter of 

a laboring man of Domremy, a hamlet on the borders 

of Lorraine. She was three or four years old when 

Henry of Monmouth's yeomen routed the French 

knights at Agincourt, and she was in her eighteenth 

1 [ttthisyeai (1414) James I, of Scotland, who had been fbi eighteen j 
,i political prisoi 1 , and, was restored to his throne. During 

captivity he fell in love with Lady Jane Beaufort, whom bo married and in 
whoso honor he wrote " riie King's Quair," .1 celebrated poem in the 
manner of Chaucer. 



Lancaster and ) '<>> k. 



147 



year when the miseries ol her nation called her from 
her father's cottage to the royal camp. She had been 

.1 quiet, thoughtful child, and in dreams and visions by 

day and by night she had held conversations with saints 
and angels. Mysterious "voices" told her what to do. rhe"voices. 
When she grew to young womanhood and heard the 
neighbors speak of the war and the degradation oi 




Joan of Arc. From the painting by Bastien-Lepage. 

France, the "voices" whispered to her that the King oi 
Heaven had chosen her, the peasant girl of Domremy, 
to deliver the king of France from his enemies. Her 

father's threats could not make her disobey the 
sacred call. The priests and the captains who tried 
to stay her shrank before her unquestioning faith 
in her mission. Jeanne was not the only superstitious 



i.jS 



person in the realm, and her faith bred faith in others 
around her. They brought her to Charles, to whom 
she said : "Gentle sir, 1 am Joanne the Maid. The 
heavenly King sent me to tell you that you shall be 
crowned in the town of Rheims, and you shall be 
lieutenant oi the heavenl) King, who is the King of 
France. 5 ' 

Rheims was then in English hands, and it was diffi- 
cult tii believe her words ; but it was even more difficult 
to doubt her calm confidence, ,\\u\ the Maid was fur 
nished with the armor .\\\A the troops that she required. 
By a hold maneuver she entered Orleans and brought 
succor to the besieged. At the head of t ho garrison 
she sallied forth auA captured the English torts beyond 
the walls, liberating the city from its long constraint 
(1429). The French soldiery reverenced her courage 
and saintly purity : in the English camp her name was 
at first a by-word, but after her successes the men 
\ witch." began t>> fear the "Maid of Orleans" as a witch, de- 
claring that her guiding "voices" were of the devil. 1 
The simple-hearted heroism of the Maid had at last 
kindled tin- patriotism of tin- people, and the force of 
the nation was rallying to the support of the dauphin. 
Before the end of the year Charles was crowned in the 
Cathedral of Rheims, and [eanne, her mission accom- 

rhe dauphin ,111 11 1 1. 1 1 ■ 1 

tied. pushed, begged leave to go home, out the king, who 

had found her useful, denied her request. She tell into 
the hands of the Burgundians, whose duke sold her to 
the English, Being accused of witchcraft and heresy, 
she asserted her innocence and purity to the last. 
When the judges gave sentence against her she ap 
pealed to "her Judge, the King of heaven and earth," 

rhe common soldiers were not Ihe only ones who dreaded her povvei 
Bedford himsell spoke ol hei .1^ a "disciple and limb of the fiend, called 
the Pucelle, that used false enchantment! • erj ' 



Lancaster and York, \ y) 



saying, "in all my doings God has been my lord." 
They condemned her to be burned. The ungrateful 
French king, who might well have pledged his crown 

to ransom her, let the sentence take its course. Ill 
[431, before she was yet twenty one years old, Joan of 
Arc, praying: aloud and crying "Tesus!" with her last Death of the 

1 • ■ / © j Maid, 1431 

painful breath, was burned at the stake in the city of 

Rouen. ' 

Four years alter Joan's martyrdom England's grip 
upon France was loosened. The Duke of Burgundy hollo? Frarufe. 
swung over to King (diaries. The regent Bedford died 
( 1 (.35 ), and the area of English influence on the Conti- 
nent shrank with every campaign. In the year 1450 
the last Norman town surrendered to France, and iii 
1453 Gascony also was lost. The Hundred Years' War 
was at an end. England lost not only her recent con 
quests, but all her lands and citadels in France, except- 
ing Calais, were taken from her. 

Very little had Henry VI. to do with these reverses. 

- , - . Henry VI., 

During the first twenty years of his reign he was under 1422-1471. 

guardianship as a minor, and the last ten were marked 

by long periods of imbecility. He was married to 

Margaret, Princess of Anjou, but until 1453 he had no 

heir and a vigorous controversy raged over the succes 

sion. < )ut of the disputed claims of the- ducal families 

of Lancaster and York, called from the badges of their 

partisans the "Red Rose" and the " White, " Sprang The " Roses." 

the thirty years (1455—85) <>f civil uproar, which are 

1 Joan was not the only victim of the credulity of the age. In 1439 the Duchess 
Eleanor, wife of the " Protector," was solemnly tried (or consulting the fiend 
and using sorcery against the king, Henry IV'., melting a wax image before 
the in e as a type ol his wasting; away. Her accomplices, Roger, " a magician," 
of Oxford University, and Margaret, "a witch," were put to death. Even 
the great lady herself musl walk barefoot through London and die in 
prison. A generation later ( 1477) one Thomas Burdet, exasperated because 
the king had shot his favorite deer, was heard to wish that the head, horns. 

and ah were on the man wdio had killed it. He was accused "I poisoning, 

son 1 1 j and em hantment, duly tried, and executed ' 



'.So 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



known .is the Wars <>i the Roses, and to whose history 
we have now c< ime, ' 

The vexed question oi the royal inheritance will be 
better understood by reference to the genealogical 
table "I the descendants of Edward III. (page psi ). 
loi three generations the crown had been in the family 
ol Lancaster the three Henrys (IV., V., .mil VI.) 
being son, grandson, ami great grandson of fohn oi 
Gaunt. Assuming i li.it Henry VI. would die childless, 
the Lancastrian party selected to succeed him Edmund 
Beaufort, Duke ol Somerset, grandson of John ol 
Gaunt by his mistress, Catherine Swynford. Richard 
Plantagenet, Duke ol York, was his principal rival. 

Richard had a double claim il he chose to press it. 
riirOUgh his mother, Ann Mortimer, he inherited the 

royal rights ol the Earls ol March, the descendants ol 

Edward's third son, Lionel, and from his lather he 

acquired the claims and titles of Edmund, Edward's 
tilth sou. The illegitimate Beauforts had once been 
debarred from the succession l>v law ; therefore, should 
the Lancastrian king have no children Richard Planta- 
genet would he his lawtul hen ; meanwhile his prior 
claim as hail ol March was kept in reserve. 

I'he contest opened, therefore, with Edmund Lean 
loii, Lancastrian, and Richard Plantagenet, the York- 
ist, striving for recognition as heir to Henry VI. In 
[453 a son, Edward, Prince ol Wales, was horn to the 
king and Margaret, his queen. This ottered .1 peaceful 
settlement for the quarrel by superseding the claims ol 

1 Besides the question "i the inheritance the Vorklst party . whose strength 

was > iiu-ilv in the South, represented the current dissatisfaction with the 

1 .mi . 1 -.il 1. in dynast} which had brought the Frew h w irs to n disgrai 1 ful end, 

and had plunged the nation Into unprecedented debt. A populai rhyme 

I tin party ran. 

''Ye ha\ e made the king so pooi . 
rii.ii now lie beggeth Ironi dooi to door." 
F01 Shakesjpean vei Ion ->i the Red .m. I White Rose emblems, see 
"1 Henrj \ 1 ," \. 1 11., Si l\ 



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i5- Twenty Centuries of English History. 

both parties, and had Henry been a powerful monarch 
the nation might have escaped the civil wars; 1 >u t his 
malady increased, and the periods of lethargy through 

which lie passed made it necessary for die helm of the 

state to he m steadier li.mds. 1 hike Richard was 

Duke Richard appointed " lYolecloi . " ( hieen Mai>'ai<t with an eye 
oei onies Pro- ' ' s & 

'ector." to her little son's prospects supported the Lancastrian, 

Edmund Beaufort. The king's disease came and went ; 
in his periods of sanity he resumed the government, 
and, guided by Beaufort, took harsh measures against 
York. The strength of the Yorkist party lay in the 
Earls of Salisbury and Warwick. In 1455 the royal 
army was beaten by Richard and the two earls at St. 

Albans," and Edmund Beaufort was slain. Richard 
resumed the regency, and the king relapsed into im- 
becility. At his next recovery, in [458, there was 
another revolution. The Yorkist party defended itself, 

and in the battle of Northampton. [460, captured the 

king. 

Elated l>\ his victory, and encouraged by his full 

possession of the throne, Richard now asserted his 
immediate claim to the crown as the descendant ol 

Lionel, |olm of Gaunt's elder brother. This the 
Parliament refused to allow- in lull, hut conceded that 

the Puke of York, and not the Prince of Wales, 
should succeed Henry at his death. This called the 
Red Rose" into the field. A new Puke of Somerset 

had succeeded the fallen Edmund Beaufort, and with 

him stood I .ord Clifford in the struggle for the inheri- 




Lancaster and York. [53 



tunc of Prince Edward. They cut the Yorkist forces 
in pieces in the battle of Wakefield ( 1460). Duke 
Richard died on the field, and the Earl of Salisbury on 
the scaffold. The queen with grim humor crowned the 
severed head of her enemy, Richard, and exposed it <>n 

the walls of Y«>rk. The duke's son, Edward, and 
Salisbury's son, the Earl of Warwick, continued to 
resist. They occupied London, gathered a great army 
in the East, and on Palm Sunday, [461, met the 
Lancastrian army on Towton Field. Twenty thousand gattieoi 

blood)' corpses were strewn Oil the trampled snow at l^ on ' 

sunset, where the banner of the Red Rose had floated 

at dawn. The fiercest battle that had been fought in 

Britain in four centuries was won by Edward of York. 

The pitiable king fled to Scotland with his valiant 

queen and her little son, while Parliament and citizens 

alike hailed the Yorkist victor. In June he was 

crowned as King Edward IV. 1 luu.i [V ., 

& 1461-1483. 

Edward IV. was a strong man, handsome, brave, and 
a brilliant soldier, but with much of the tyrant in him. 
With Parliament he had small patience, and under him , 1 '' lw ' , „ r ' 1 , '* , . 

i pi'i st hi, 1 1 1 11 it*. 

that body lost the strength which it had been accumu- 
lating since the death of Simon of Montfort. For years 
at a time he did not once summon the Lords and Com- 
mons, managing by various unconstitutional devices to 
raise, without legal taxation, the money which his 
ambitions required. The estates of conquered Lancas 
trians were forfeited to the crown ; subsidies were 
granted and collected for wars which were never fought; 
and when Parliament was called together no more the 
king invited the rich citizens of London to give of their 
substance "benevolences" into the royal treasury. 

Such a royal imitation was not to be slighted. Be- 
yond all these sources of revenue Edward was a money- 



" B.enevo- 
lences." 



ilstll . 



154 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

maker in a manner new to English sovereigns. The 
world was awakening from the sleep of the Middle 
Ages. The crusades had increased communication 
between the East and West, and trade had followed in 
their wake. The king became a merchant, owning and 
freighting a fleet of ships whose voyages turned fresh 
streams of gold into his treasure chests. Europe was 
all astir. Medieval customs, the feudal system, the 
temporal supremacy of the Catholic Church had passed 
rheworid their prime, and the old order was ready for a change. 

In Italy art was blossoming forth into its most perfect 
(lower. In the eourts <.->{ Western Europe a Genoese 
skipper was showing a roll of curious maps and 
begging for a chance to discover a new world. John 
Gutenberg in Germany was cutting types for the first 
printed hook ; and in every university and many a 
monastic library men read with wide eyed wonderment 
the treasures of Greek and Latin literature which, long 
preserved in Constantinople, had been dispersed at its 

fall (1453). Art, science, letters, intellectual activity 
of every sort was horn again. The Wars of the Roses 
held England hack from the general advance. Her 
artists were rude imitators, she hail no poets, her first 
printers learned their craft at German Cases, 1 and Spain 
behind the was quicker than London to prove that Columbus's 

dream was true. 

King Edward's wars did not end with his accession. 
The great Lancastrian lords had lost their lives and 

1 rhe first English printer w.is William Caxton, a native of Kent (1422), 
who was a cloth merchant at Bruges when the art of printing came into use. 
He probably learned the craft at Cologne and t'nst practiced it al Bruges, 
where he issued theearliest English book, " The Recuyell ol the Histories ol 
rroye," about 1474. Caxton was translator, editor, correctoi ol the press, 
and printer. In 1177 he established his office In 1. on. Ion, within the precincts 
of Westminster Abbey, and in November he issued " Dictes 01 Sayings oi the 
Philosophers," the liist book printed in England. Caxton's use oi the Eng- 
lish spoken by the Londoners did much to establish that dialect as the lan- 
guage ol literature, Hedied about 1491. 



England 
in hint 
1 imes 



Lanca /> > and ) '<>/ k. 1 55 

their lands In the hour of defeat, but the greal allies of 
York 1 laimed unusual favors from the duke whom they 
ha<l set upon a throne The Earl oi Warwick, the 
" kine-maker, " himself, was the must rebellious sub "", ", k ',','**" 

o maker s 

ject. After Towton battle the unconquerable Queen rebellion. 
Margarel had roused her partisan - to other futile efforts 
for her son. To these the battle of Hexham (1464) 
put au end, and Edward felt encouraged to show his in 
dependence. He offended the Yorkisl lords by marry- 
ing a Lancastrian lady. To strengthen his position he 
betrothed his sister to Duke Charles the Bold, of Bur- 
gundy, the- leading noble of Fran< e. 

The ambition and jealousy of the Duke of Clarence, 
the king's brother, furnished Warwick with a center for 
his plots. Clarence married the earl's daughter ( 1460), , , .. 

1 t ° ^ / " I li<: fugitive 

and the allied nobles seized the person of the king. ki,l «- 
Hut their proposition found no supporters. Edward, 
soon released and moving quickly, pressed the conspir 
ators so hard that they wen- forced to new treasons. 
Queen Margaret, ready for any alliance which should 
benefil her house, promised the earl that her son should 
ueii his daughter. Thus the remnant of the strength of 
Lancaster joined with the mainstay of tin- I louse of York 
to ruin Edward. Surprised by this sudden turn, the 
king escaped to France ( 1470J, while the distracted 
Henry VI. emerged from his prison for a few weeks of 
empty royalty. 

The subtlety of the king-maker was surpassed by 
Edward. With French support he landed in England 
and rallied an army. Henry, the lawful sovereign, had 
been restored, and Edward declared that with the' king 
he had no quarrel. His royal rights and title he would 
waive ; only for his dukedom of York would he fight. 
This specious statement served its purpose. Even his 



1 5 > 7a .. History 



Baniet and 
few kesbury, 

ii-i. 



Pe.ulv ofHenr 
VI.. W 



Clarence 
disapp 



Death of 
Edward 1\". 



Edward V. 



brother, Clarence, took part in this vindication of the 

House of York. The Lancastrians lacked a leader. 
King Henry was but a shadow of a king ; the Prince of 
Wales was a youth of seventeen ; and the traitor War- 
wick, the strongest man in the party, had so identified 

himself with the Yorkist cause in the past that half his 
present host distrusted him. Edward 1Y. alone was 
kingly, and he was soon the only king. He struck 
his enemies before they could unite ; Warwick's army 
was routed at Rirnet. in April, 1471.'' and three weeks 
later Margaret was defeated at Few kesbury. and her 
son. the hope of the House of Lancaster, did not 
survive the fray. c">n May 22 the husband m\A. father, 
Henry VI., died in his prison. 

Edward 1\'. resumed the crown unchallenged. For 
twelve years he reigned securely. Diplomacy was the 
king's best weapon, a\u\ by its means he kept his king- 
dom free from serious foreign wars and gave it the 
peace which was needed after the disorder of the civil 
strife. His brother Clarence, whom he feared, was 
accused of treason and put to death in London Tower 
VI47S I drowned in a butt of malmsey, said the 
babblers of that time. Another brother remained, 
Richard, Puke of Gloucester, whom many believed to 
be guilty of the blood of Henry VI., .xnd upon whom 
the sudden death of Edward 1\\. April o. 1483, drew 
dark suspicions. 

The king left four children the twelve-year-old Ed- 
ward V.; the ill-fated Richard. Puke of York: Eliza- 
beth, afterward queen of Henry VII., and Katharine. 
Again the accession of a\\ infant tempted a usurper. 
The king's cruel uncle. Richard of Gloucester, gained 

1 The battle was fought on the fog«r> morning of Eastei Sunday, and has 
been called " the battle of the mist." there was great confusion on the field 
and the Lancastrian archers fired bj mistake into troops of theii ownpai 



Lancaster and ) ork. 



i57 



possession of the boy-king and his brother and seized 
the government. To give his usurpation .1 legal gloss 
he obtained a decree 
from a council of 
friendly nobles, an- 
nulling the marriage 
of Edward IV. and 
declaring their chil- 
dren illegitimate. 
That his elder 
brother, Clarence, 
had been condemned 
as a traitor tainted 
the blood of that 
branch, and thus 
Richard of (douces- 
ter remained the next 
male heir of the 
House of York. Two 
months only were 
needed to consum- 
ma t e this iniquity ; 
the duke hurried his 

nephews (Edward V. and Richard of York) to London 
Tower, and they were never seen again. 1 

In June, 1483, the usurper was crowned as King 
Richard 111. But his deeds of blood could not cstab- Richard m 
lish him firmly upon the throne. The partisans of M^-Mfis- 
Lancaster wire his natural enemies, and the best men 
of his own party were shocked by his heartless murders. 
The king saw that he must win popular favor by real 

i The Grey Friars' chronicle for the yeai said simply, " Ami the two sons of 
King Edward were put to silence." Two centuries later (1674) workmen 
engaged in repairing the Towei discovered under the old staircase the bones 
• ■I two youths, rhese were believed to be the remains of the princes and 
were remterred by order oi the king, Charles 1 1., in Westminster Abbey. 




I'm-: 1'kaitor's Gate, Towkr ok London. 



The princes in 
the Tower. 



15 s f/isA //.> 



concessions. His brother, Edward IV., had erred on 
the side of tyranny. By neglecting Parliament, and by 
levying forced benevolences, he had habitually over 
stepped the bounds which the barons had laid down at 
Runnymede. By abandoning these forms of misrule 
Richard might still gain favor. The people of London 
declared in petition: "We be determined rather to 
Petition or the adventure and to commit ns to the peril of our lives 

l oiutoners, ' 

and jeopardy of death, than to live in such thralldom 
and bondage as we have lived a long time heretofore, 
oppressed and injured by extortions and new imposi 
tions against the laws of God and man, and the laws 
a\u\ liberty of this realm, wherein every man is in- 
herited." This and like addresses had due effect. 
Parliament was assembled ; the oppressions and i\ 
actions of the late king were censured, -\nd new and 
better laws were enacted. But this mildness tailed to 
save Richard, secure though he denned himself to he. 
The Princess Elizabeth, his niece, represented all 
that was left of the House of York, and her King 
Richard determined to wed. Another marriage had 
hem planned for the maiden princess. A representa- 
tive of the House of Lancaster still lived. This was 
Henn rndor, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. His grandfather, 

Rich- , . ,-i M- , , , t i« i 

inond. (.'wen I lulor. was a Welsh gentleman oi little impor- 

tance, save for his marriage with Catharine, the 
widowed queen of Henry V. From this marriage 
sprang Edmund Tudor, who, with his father's eye for 
an advantageous match, wedded Margaret Beaufort, of 
the ducal family of Somerset. Thus Henry Tudor, 
son of Edmund and Margaret, had in his veins, from his 
mother and his father's mother, the blood of John of 
(.".aunt. As the hope of 1 ancaster he was an object of 
suspicion to the Yorkist kings, and prudence led him 



Lancaster and York. i.v) 



to reside in France rather than in his own earldom. 
The Lancastrian politicians joined with those Yorkist 
partisans who had no stomach for Richard's usurpa- 
tions to marry Henry Tudor to Elizabeth of York. 
Before the marriage could be compassed the conspiracy 
was discovered, and Buckingham, one of its leaders, 
was beheaded for his share in the plot. But Henry of 
Richmond kept beyond the king's reach until i4> s .s. 
when despatches from England informed him that the 
plans were ripe. His reception showed Richard how 
insecure was his own footing. In all parts of the king- 
dom there were Lancastrian risings, while the friends of 
York, for the most part, rose with them or remained 
quietly in their homes. The last battle in the struggle 
of the Roses was fought August 22, [485, on Bosworth Bosworth 
Field, in Leicestershire. King Richard's men tie- llcl,ll i s > 
serted him in the face of the enemy : he had no chance 
of flight, but — with the bravery of his Plantagenet 
blood — he sold his life at the cost of main-, and fell in a 

. ... n-. , -,^, , t-i • Death of 

vain attempt to kill the ludor. 1 he Red Rose tri- Richard in. 
umphed over the White that day. as the White had 
vanquished the \\vA at Tewkesbury fourteen years be- 
fore, but the union of the Red and White in the 
marriage of Henry and Elizabeth ended forever the 
strife of Lancaster ami York. Henry of Richmond 
was accepted by Parliament as Henry VII., the first of 
the Tudor line of kings. 



TOPICS FOR READING AN!' SPECIAL STUDY 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 



[485 



1. Joan OF Arc. 

loan of Arc Francis C. Lowell. 
Jeanne d' Arc M. O. \V. Oliphant. 



1 60 

-\ Warwick, hik King-maker. 

Warwick. C, VV. Oman. 
;. The W \.rs of vhk Roses. 

Richard 111. I. Gairdn< 

Lancaster and York. J. Gairdner. 
4. William Caxton \np niv Beginnings of English 

Pkin riN» 
Life of William Caxton. W. Blades. 

Fiction, I 
The Karl Printer. L, E. Guernsej 
In the Days of Jeanne d' Arc. Mary 11. Catherwood. 

mal Recollections of Joan of \ etc, "Mark Twain." 

The Last of the Rirons. Bulwer l.ytton. 
A Parish Priest of Barnet. A. 1. Church. 
Henry VI. and Richard 111. Shakesiv. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Tudor Despotism, 1485 A. D.-1547 A. D.— 
Henry VII. and Henry VIII. 

For one hundred and eighteen years the descendants 

-' Henry VII. 

of Owen Tudor and the widow of Henry V. occupied of Richmond, 

, L 1485-1509- 

the English throne. This period marked the transfor- 
mation of medieval England into a modern state, and 
the change was accompanied by a splendid outburst of 
those intellectual forces whose beginnings had thrilled 
Western Europe while the island kingdom stagnated 
under the curse of civil war. 

The Tudors were strong-willed monarchs, who op- 
posed at every turn the efforts of their subjects to limit 
their personal authority. The checks which had gradu- 
ally been placed upon the absolute power of the king 
previous to 14S5, when Henry VII. ascended the Limitations on 
throne, were essentially these, some of them as old as power. 
Magna Charta itself : ( 1 ) No new tax might be imposed 
upon the nation without the consent of a Parliament in 
which nobles, clergy, and commoners were represented. 
(2) The consent of such a Parliament was requisite for 
all new laws and all changes in the old laws. (3) With- 
out legal warrant no man might be arrested and de- 
prived of his liberty. (4) Accused persons were entitled 
to speedy trial by a fair jury in the county where the of- 
fense was committed. (5) All crown officers were liable 
to jury trial and punishment for injuries committed 
upon persons or property, even though such injuries 
should result from obedience of the king's orders. 



Illllll.lt I'llS. 



seat 



r.62 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

These five safeguards secured to England the most 
Despotic liberal government in Europe. It is true that they had 

not always been respected by every king, but they were 
so well established that the king who disregarded any one 
of them branded himself as an oppressor. By force and 
guile Edward IV. had succeeded in strengthening his po- 
sition at the expense of Parliament. Richard III. angled 
for a short-lived popularity with the bait of constitutional 
reform. Henry VII., when firmly seated on his throne, 
returned to Edward's policy, and worked with steady 
purpose to upbuild the personal power of the sovereign. 
Henry's first care was to make firm his seat. As the 
jecuringhis representative of Lancaster he might serve as a rallying 
center for a faction, but his descent was by a devious 
line. He was king by force of arms as truly as Richard 
had been king by treason and murder, and the one had 
no clearer royal title than the other. Parliament de- 
creed that Henry VII. and his heirs should rule Eng 
land ("and France," as the vain title still ran), and 
on this parliamentary act, backed by the incontrovert- 
ible arguments of conquest and possession, the king's 
authority rested. The remnant of the family of York 
was a possible source of disturbance. The two sons of 
Edward IV. were dead, by Richard's order — or as good 
as dead in the Tower dungeons. Elizabeth, their sis- 
ter, the king married, muting the blood of Lancaster 
and York. The young bail of Warwick, son of the 
"malmsey" Duke of Clarence, and grandson of "the 
king-maker," was cousin ami next of kin to Edward V. ; 
him Henry hurried to the gloomy Tower. Such havoc 
was made among the Yorkist princes that the party was 
in straits fur a standard-bearer. In this exigency two 
remarkable impostors appeared in England, reviving for 
a little the withered rose of York. 



party. 



The Tudor Despotism. 



163 



The first of these "pretenders," one Lambert Sim- 
nel, 1 claimed to be that young Earl of Warwick whom Lambert 

' JO Si ill Uct. 

Henry held in prison. Men of note believed him to 
be Warwick, and gave their lives in battle for him at 
Stoke. He was defeated, captured, and was made a 
scullion in the palace kitchen. Little daunted by his 
late, Perkin War- 
beck, another claim- 
ant, more successful 
in his pretensions and 
more wretched in his 
end than Simnel, took 
up the banner of the 
White Rose. He 
claimed to be that 
Richard, Duke of 
York, whom Richard 
III. had smothered 
in the Tower, and his 
personal charm won 
powerful support. 
Profiting by Simnel' s 
experience the man- 
agers of the later pre- 
tender showed their 
prize in foreign courts 
before bringing him 

to England. The Duchess of Burgundy, aunt of the 
real Richard, accepted him and kept him two years at 
her court. In 1496 Warbeck and the Scots' king in- 




THE I'KINCES IN THE TOWER. 

From the painting by Sii John Millais. 



1 Simnel was the son <>r an Oxford baker, and was trained for his pan by a 
priest. The queen-mother, who resented the king's unwillingness t" have 
the queen, her daughter, formally crowned, may have encouraged tin- impos- 
ture. The baker's boy was well received by the Yorkist partisans in 
Dublin, and was crowned in the cathedral as " K1111; Edward the Sixth." 
The Karl of Lincoln and Lord Lovel were his i hief adherents. 



164 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

vaded England. The invasion came to nothing. War- 
beck was captured in the following year and placed in 
the Tower with Henry's other enemies. His repeated 
attempts to escape made him a dangerous prisoner, and 
in 1499 he and his fellow-prisoner j Warwick, whom 
Simnel had personated, were put t<> death. Thus was 
the White Rose blasted. 

As soon as the enemies of his house were silenced 

the king entered upon the career of despotism which 

tyrannous characterized the Tudor sovereigns. Parliament sat 

exa< nous. . 

infrequently. Yet the crown had ample revenues, and 
the avaricious king amassed a private fortune inde- 
pendently of the consent of the Lords and Commons. 
Certain commercial duties — tonnage and poundage — 
were granted him for life by an early Parliament, 
and these increased in profit with the rapid extension 
of English trade. Wars with France proved as profit- 
able to Henry as they had been to Edward IV. 
Money for the campaigns was obtained from the 
people, but the money went into the royal treasury, 
the French king at the same time paying well for 
peace. 1 As the landlords had revived forgotten bonds 
of servitude when the Black Death had depleted the 
labor market, so Henry, lacking the tax levies which 
only a Parliament might impose, revived ancient feudal 
rights of the crown over the landowners, and com- 
pelled the payment of tines and dues which had lain in 
desuetude for generations. Nobles paid dearly for ex- 
emption from the support of armed retainers, this 
method of punishment yielding profit to the king and 
depriving the feudal lords of the private armies with 

1 Besides the sums levied in England for an expedition against France, 
which lasted but twenty days, the king received 1500,000 from Fiance. It 
was murmured that Henrj was willing " to plume nis nobility and people to 
feather himself." 



The Tudor Despotism. [65 



which they had formerly intimidated the royal power. 
The development of the art of warfare further 

1 Changes in 

strengthened the monarchy. In the simpler days, warfare. 
when bow and arrow, axe and spear, served for offensive 
armor, many a battle went by preponderance of num- 
bers. Gunpowder had revolutionized the science of 
war. The Lancastrian kings owed much of their suc- 
cess in France to their use of cannon. The castles of 
the nobles, which were so many strongholds against the 
king in times of civil war, were at the mercy of the 
royal artillery, and the long castle-sieges of the early 
reigns do not figure in the records of the Tudors. ' 

Landless merchants and other men of wealth had to 
share their gains with the grasping Henry. " Benevo- 
lences," forced contributions, were revived and col- 
lected with especial zeal. Morton, the royal officer 
who was charged with their collection, was so persistent 
in his search for wealth that men came to speak of 
"Morton's fork" of two tines. They said that if a 
man lived extravagantly he was mulcted of a " benevo- 

iTi "Morton's 

lence ' on the ground of evident wealth, and if he fork." 
sought to avoid this fate by an unostentatious way of 
life the sheriffs pounced upon him as a miser who 
must divide his hoard with the king. 

It would have been impracticable for the sovereign to 
use the ordinary jury-courts as a means of enforcing 
these projects for raising money ; an impartial jury 
would have resisted such acts as tyrannous. So the 
king had recourse to a court composed of high officials 
and members of his council. This court — sometimes 

..." Star 

called "Star Chamber" from the decorated ceiling of Chamber." 

1 " It is hardly possible to exaggerate the advantage which the king had 
over rebels of all sorts through possessing the only parks of artillery within 
the four seas." — Hassa.ll. Small firearms wen- < oming into use, but the long 
how still remained the chief reliance of the English armies. 



[66 Twenty Centuries oj English History. 



its meeting-room — heard cases concerning fraud, libel, 
feudal privileges, forgery, perjury, riotings, etc., and 
was in this reign and the next an instrument of the most 
hateful tyranny. Its judges being appointed by the 
crown, and no jury being present, the court became a 
facile tool. 

Henry VII. died in 1509, leaving to his burly son, 
Henrj viii., Prince Henry, undisputed title to the throne, a treasure 

1 ! 547- 

of $10,000,000, and, as he said, alluding to his marriage 
alliances with Scotland and Spain, "a wall of brass 
around England." Arthur, another son, had married 
Catharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, the Spanish patrons of Columbus. His death 
six months later left her a widow, and the special 
dispensation of the pope was obtained for her marriage 
with Prince Henry (1509). The Prim-ess Margaret 
Tudor found a royal husband in James IY. of Scot- 
land, and in after years became grandmother of Mary 

Royalmar- Queen of Scots. Mary Tndor, the youngest of 

Henry's daughters, also wedded a king, Louis XI 1. 
of France. After his death she married an English- 
man, Charles Brandon, and their grandchild was the 
unfortunate Lady Jane Grey. These several marriages 
figure prominently in the history of the sixteenth cen- 
tury in England. 

Henry VIII. — "bluff King Hal" — was eighteen 

Hal!"* 1 K '" K Years old when he came into his father's noble inheri- 
tance in 1509. He was in ruddy health, tall, anil of fine 
physique, excelling in every manner of English sport 
and not ill-trained in the learning of the schools. In 
him were united the families of Lancaster and York. 
From his father he received .1 splendid treasure and a 
peaceful and prosperous kingdom, whose long quies- 
cence, stagnation indeed, was now giving place to an 



The Tudor Despotism. 



167 



unprecedented activity in letters, art, and science.' His 
father, moreover, bequeathed to him a vigorous mind, 
a stubborn will, and a recklessness of life and law which 
served him well in his thirty-eight years of stormy rule. 

The popular favor which greeted the new king was 
strengthened by an ^- 

a< t which augured ill 
for the security of 
personal rights. 
Empson and Dudley, 
two officers who had 
aided Henry VII. in 
his harshest forms of 
tax-collection, were 
put to death upon a 
trumped-up charge. 

Henry thirsted for 
war as a means of 
asserting England's 
place among the con- 
tinental powers, as 
well as for the glory 
and emolument which 
personal success 
would bring to him. 
His marriage with his brother's widow, Catharine of 
Aragon, determined his place in the struggle which was 
vexing Europe. After the expulsion of the English 
from Normandy the French kings had steadily gained 
in power at the expense of their great feudatories. 
France was now a consolidated state, and outranked all 

1 The study of Greek and the noble literature of the ancient classics began 
in England in the last decade of the fifteenth century. William Grocyn and 
Thomas Linacre, who first taught Greek at Oxford, learned it at the universi- 
ties of Northern Italy. 




Henry VIII. 



1 68 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



the Spurs,' 
Flodden, 1513. 



other kingdoms in wealth and military power. To hold 
Henry joins the her in check and protect the pope's temporal posses- 

league, 1512. . 1 L 1 r 

sions in Italy was the object of the Holy League, which 
was formed about the year 151 1 by Ferdinand of Ar- 
agon, Queen Catharine's father, with the pope and the 
Venetian Republic. Henry joined this alliance and 
drove the French cavalry from the field of Guinegate 
so swiftly that the day has ever since been called "the 
Th_e Battle of Battle of the Spurs" (1513). In the same year the 
Scots, always on the side of France, were beaten on 

Flodden Field and 
their king, James IV., 
was slain. Peace with 
both countries fol- 
lowed — a peace which 
the diplomatic ability 
of Thomas Wolsey 
rolonged for seven 
years (15 14-21). 

Wolsey was the son 

of a wealthy c o m - 

moner of Ipswich. 

Graduating at Oxford 

at the age of fifteen 

he was known as "the 

boy bachelor." By 

fidelity and adroitness 

he had worked his way up in the civil service of the state 

and into the heart of the king's favor. Henry gave 

him rich offices in the church, and he became bishop of 

Lincoln and archbishop of York. He was politician 

first and prelate afterward. He now (15 13) took charge 

of the foreign policy of England and formed a passive 

alliance with France, where Francis I. began to reign. 



Thomas, 
Cardinal 
Wolsey 




Cardinal Wolsey. 



The Tudor Despotism. 169 

Ferdinand of Aragon died, and his famous grandson, 
Charles V., succeeded to the kingdom of Spain. With 
kings like these to deal with Wolsey needed every re- 
source, and his master indeed spared none. The pope 
sent the commoner's son a cardinal's hat and a legate's 
commission. This placed him at the head of the Eng- 
lish Church. He was already foreign minister, and as 
chancellor of the realm he controlled the judicial machin- 
ery of the nation. In his personal revenues, the mag- 
nificence of his palaces, the splendor of his household, 1 
he was little behind royalty itself. 

Charles V. , Queen Catharine's nephew, had now, as 
German emperor and Spanish king, possessions which 
surrounded and overshadowed those of France. With 
such an ally the House of Tudor might regain the 
crown of France. Charles came to England in person 
to urge immediate action. Francis foresaw his peril, 
and in a fruitless interview with Henry near Calais 
sought to recover his friendship, on "the Field of the 
Cloth of Gold."' 2 Henry, Charles, and the pope again Cloth of Gold, 
joined hands in secret against Francis — Charles promis- 
ing to marry Henry's daughter, the Princess Mary, his 
own cousin though she was. Mary was formally recog- 
nized as heir to the English throne. 

The approach of a foreign war perplexed Cardinal 
Wolsey. During seven peaceful years he had suc- 
ceeded in governing England and raising sufficient 

1 Wolsey enjoyed the revenues of three bishoprics and a rich abbey. He 
had eight hundred personal dependents in his household, and was vulgar and 
ostentatious in his display of wealth. 

2 The description of Henry's costume by an eye-witness warrants the 
name: " Then the king of England showed himself . . . in beauty and 
personage, the most goodliest prince that ever reigned over the realm of 
England. His grace was appareled in a garment of cloth of silver, of 
Damaske, ribbed with cloth of gold, so thick as may be. The garment was 
large and plaited very thick. . . . Marvelous to behold. [The trappings 
of his steed] were of fine gold in bullion, curiously wrought, pounced, and 
set with antique work in Roman figures." This was extraordinary, even in 
an age when the dress of the men of rank was splendid. 



Field of the 



Exactions. 



i ~o Twenty Centuries of English History. 

revenue without recourse to a Parliament. Now a 
Parliament, with all its possible interference in the 
king's business, must be called to vote money for the 
war. It assembled (1523) and voted less than half the 
sum demanded. 1 In 1525 the government again asked 
for the detestable "benevolences." Bold voices were 
heard protesting against the lawless extortion. Bolder 
hands drove the king's agents from their towns. The 
levy failed. Meanwhile the war had begun. Charles 
was winning victories from Francis and spending 
Henry's hard-wrung gold for his own benefit. Eng- 
land went out shearing and came back shorn ; she 
helped to pay for humbling France, but lost her money 
for her pains. Charles repudiated his pledge to marry 
Mary Tudor, and Henry in dismay transferred his 
friendship to the French king. 

The course of events has now brought us to the 
The royal central event of Henry's reign — his divorce from Cath- 

divorce 

arine. This single act led to the fall of Wolsey, the 
elevation of Cromwell, the quarrel with the pope, and 
the final separation of the Church of England from the 
Church of Rome. The royal pair had been married by 
special permission of the pope — their relationship being 
ordinarily a bar to such a union. Catharine was some 
years older than her husband, and it was unlikely that 
she should leave him any other heir than the Princess 
Mary. The king was naturally anxious concerning the 
succession. He now (1525) suspected that the un- 
timely death of his sons was a sign that Heaven was 

1 Wolsey's conception of the function of Parliament appears in this anec- 
dote: The pompous cardinal addressed the House of Commons on the needs 
of the royal treasury, and asked the members to give their opinions. None 
answering, the cardinal demanded answer from Sir Thomas More, the 
speaker. More knelt before the great minister and "excused the silence of 
the House as abashed by the sublimity of the cardinal's presence among 
them, and showed him that it was neither expedient nor agreeable with their 
ancient privileges to comply with the cardinal's demands.'' Whereupon 
Wolsey took himself out, greatly displeased. 



The Tudor Despotism. 



171 



Anne Boleyn. 



displeased with his marriage ; he had, moreover, been 
attracted by the wit and beauty of Anne Boleyn, a lady 
of the queen's household. Superstition or passion 
prompted him to put away his faithful wife, however 
serious the obstacles. Only a papal divorce might 
dissolve the union which the pope had blessed. The 
pope, Clement VII., was under the thumb of the 
Emperor Charles and 
dared not disgrace 
that monarch's un- 
happy aunt. The 
queen protested that 
she had been a true 
and loyal wife and 
could not be put away 
without sin. In 1529 
an Italian cardinal 
was sent by the pope 
to judge the case with 
Cardinal Wolsey, but 
before the court could 
give sentence the 
pope transferred the 
case to Rome. Mad- 
dened at this turn of 
affairs the king stripped his favorite of his offices, honors, 
and wealth (1529), and would have brought him to the Wolsey's fall, 
block on charge of treason had not disease claimed the 
broken-spirited man. Wolsey's dying words have been 
put into immortal form by Shakespeare : 

O Cromwell, Cromwell ! 
Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, lie would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies. 




/ 



Anne Boleyn. 



i7- Twenty Centuries of English History. 

The great cardinal's successor in the royal favor \v;is 
ThomasCrom- Thomas Cromwell, a man of obscure origin who had at- 
tached himself to Wolsey's fortunes and clung to his mas- 
ter to the end. He combined shrewdness with audacity 
to a degree which made him the ideal minister of a deter- 
mined man like Henry, who fixed his mind on definite ob- 
jects and suffered no earthly obstacle to block his path. 
The opposition of the pope had now shut the king from 
his dearest wish — divorce and a new marriage. Crom- 
well audaciously advised the king to disavow the pope's 
authority, and to decree the divorce himself as the head 
of the national church. At first Henry shrank from such 
a step, and by the advice of Cranmer, whom he was rap- 
idly advancing to the archbishopric of Canterbury, he 
called upon the universities of Europe to pronounce upon 
the validity of his marriage with his brother's widow. By 
unblushing bribery he obtained a favorable opinion from 
a portion of these scholars, although the best men were 
unanimous against the divorce. This flimsy endorsement 
served the purpose. Archbishop Cranmer pronounced 
The king weds the divorce (May, 1533). The king had already (Jan- 
,'■''.' ' uary) married Anne Boleyn, the gay maid of honor. 

The pope, thus openly defied, declared the king 
excommunicated and annulled the divorce; but Henry's 
will, upheld by the statesman Cromwell and the prelate 
Cranmer, was inflexible. His Parliament of 1534 passed 
the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, the former de- 
Supremacy, daring the king to be the "only supreme head on earth 
of the Church of England," the latter disinheriting the 
Princess Mary and naming Elizabeth, the new-born 
daughter of Anne Boleyn, as heir to Henry's throne. 
Henceforth no appeals from English ecclesiastical courts 
should be decided in Rome ; the papal revenues from 
English churches were stopped, and the king became 



«534. 



The Tudor Despotism. 



173 



what the pope had been since St. Augustine entered Can- 
terbury, the spiritual and temporal master of the English 
Church. To Thomas Cromwell, as vicar-general, the Cromwell, 
king deputed this limitless ecclesiastical power. vicai-genera . 

Refusal to accept the Act of Succession was declared 
to be treason, and 
this act included 
recognition of the 
validity of the di- 
vorce, an admission 
which no devout 
Catholic could make. 
The law became in 
Cromwell's hands a 
terrible weapon. 
With it he convicted 
the leading Catholics 
of treason. Sir 
Thomas More, ' the 
lord chancellor, was 
among the earliest, 
as he was among the 
noblest, victims. 
John Fisher, bishop 
of Rochester, was 
beheaded for obedience to his conscience (1535). 2 

1 More was the most illustrious Englishman of the reign, a great lawyer, a 
fine scholar, a polished writer, the friend of Erasmus, and a man of singu- 
larly pure and noble character. Being unable to countenance the divorce, he 
resigned the chancellorship and absented himself from the Boleyn wedding. 
Charges of treason were trumped up against him, but they failed repeatedly. 
He would not take the oath of supremacy, his conscience forbidding, and on 
the perjured testimony of one witness— the crown attorney — he was con- 
victed. A week later his severed head was exposed to the crowds on London 
Bridge. 

2 Fisher, who was venerable in years and in character, was kept for a year 
in the Tower, under circumstances of especial misery. When the pope, 
hearing of his fortitude, created him a cardinal, the king in his rage had him 
beheaded at once. When the king heard that the cardinal's hat was coming 
from Rome he brutally exclaimed : " He shall wear it on his sholders, then, 
for I will leave him never a head to set it on." 




Death of More 
and Fisher. 



Sir Thomas More. 



i;4 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Cromwell was not content with striking here and 
SrS. rga ? i "v on there a leader among the opposite party. He served 

o! I tie eluircti. « ' ' i 

his king with a zeal surpassing that which the dying 
Wolsey lamented. The church which Henry had now- 
separated from Rome by law must be made thoroughly 
subservient to the king. Its revenues, its courts, its 
offices, its lands, its very doctrines must be at his dis- 
posal. The power delegated to the vicar-general was 
sufficient to accomplish this design. Fresh enactments 
gave the monarch the appointment of all bishops, and a 
new and startling movement brought its property and 
riio dissolution revenues under royal control : this was the dissolution 

of the monas- . . ' 

teries, 1536. 01 the monasteries. 

Several hundred of these monkish cloisters existed 

in the kingdom. They had originated in a fervent 

desire to spread the Gospel and cultivate holiness of 

life. Through the Hark Ages they preserved whatever 

was preserved of art. science, and literature. but many 

of them had lost their high aims. The monks of the 

sixteenth century were rich and worldly. By purchase 

and bequest they had acquired one fifth of the soil of 

England, and the pursuit of wealth and luxury hail 

superseded the quest for heavenly things. Popular 

report said that the convents were the abodes of luxury 

and vice. The commissioners whom Cromwell sent to 

investigate the affairs of these religious houses reported 

early in 1330 that drunkenness and vice prevailed in 

two thirds of the number. The smaller establishments 

(370 in number) were now suppressed, their revenues 

some $160, 000 — being turned into the roval treasury. 

In the north of England the monasteries were in favor 
" The Pilgrim- . , . , , , . . . . 

age of Grace," with the common people, and the bitterness caused by 

their abolition became the revolt called "the Pilgrimage 

of Grace" (1536), and many Catholic lords and York- 



The Tudor Despotism. 



175 



ist nobles openly or in secret abetted the uprising. 
Thirty thousand armed men protested against the arbi- 
trary rule of Cromwell, the separation from Rome, and 
the disinheritance of Mary. Henry's minister dealt 
with the rebels as Richard II. had dealt with Wat Tyler 
and the insurgent peasantry of Kent and Essex. The 
army at his disposal was weak, but at his promise to 




Ruins of the Cistercian Abbey ok Fountains. 

comply with their demands the "pilgrims" dispersed 
joyfully to their homes. Then Cromwell swept through 
the North with an avenging sword. He broke his 
pledges of reform and hunted the rebels to exile or 
death. 1 

A fresh campaign was begun against the greater Thedistribu . 
monasteries. The abbots, fearing the consequences of t ) i i l '" 1 '|'[. r the 

1 Lord Darcy, a veteran soldier and leading noble of Vorkshire, was ami ni^ 
the nearly twoscore victims sent to the block, the gallows, or the stake. On 
his trial he burst out against the king's iron-handed minister, "Cromwell, 
thou art the canst' c.i tins rebellion. I trust ere thou die there shall remain 
one noble hand to strike off thy head." 



[76 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



delay, surrendered their estates to the king — some had 

already fallen to him by the treason of their occupants. 1 
To the monks thus deprived of their homes pensions 
were granted. Some of the church lands were sold, 
others granted to favorites of the king — all went to 
increase the holdings of nobles ami gentry, and to 
strengthen these classes against a restoration of monas- 
ticism. '"' 

The Protestant Reformation was at hand. By the 
year [546, the date of Luther's death. Protestantism 
had reached its fullest extent on the Continent. This 
reform had its influence upon England, where Wyclifs 
Bible and Lollardry had prepared the soil. The early 
Henry VIII. years of Henry VIII. coincided with the period of LM'eat- 

aml Martin J . 

Luther. est excitement over the Lutheran revolt, and in the 

controversy of those times the king was the ally of the 
pope. In 1522 Henry put forth a hook in defense of 
Catholic doctrine, for which the pope dubbed him " De- 

i'h?fth e »° f fender of the Faith," and which called out Luther's 
remark. "When God wants a fool he lets a king teach 
theology." W'olscy as a faithful Catholic attempted by 
persecution to prevent the spread of the new ideas in 

1 For example, the Canhnsian monks of the Charterhouse, London, lived 
exemplary lives under the prior, John Houghton, a man of really noble char- 
acter. Houghton spent six weeks in the Towei (1534) (01 his scruples against 
taking the oath of succession, which involved approval of the divorce. The 
next year the prior with others notified Cromwell that they could never take 
the oath of supremacy, which put Henry in the place of the pope. For this 
new sort of treason theywere tried, condemned, and executed. The arm of 
the sturdy prioi was nailed over the gate of the Charterhouse as a warning. 
Most of the inmates refused to l>e intimidated, ami were eventually dis- 
possessed. The noble property was bestowed on Sii rhomas Audley. 

•-' Cromwell himself received the income of four great monasteries. The 
puke of Suffolk received no less than thiuv grants of church lands in a 
single county. A new nobility was thus built up to replace the ancient 
Norman baronial families, anions whom the War of the Koses had played 
sad havoc. 

:; After 1517 Lutheran books and tracts found their way into England every 
yeai in increasing numbers. About 1521 a club of Cambridge students who 
met in the White Horse Inn to read the latest religious pamphlets from the 
Continent were nicknamed " the Germans " and suspected of heresy. Anioiiff 
them were Coverdale and Tyndale, the fathers of the English bible, and 
Hugh Latimer, soon to win fame and martyrdom by Ins eloquence and bold- 
ness iii the Protestant cause. 



The Tudor Despotism. 177 



England. Norfolk and More, his immediate successors, 
continued this part of his policy, hut Cromwell reversed it. 
Whatever were the vicar-general's heliefs, his influence 
certainly favored the Protestants. His ally, Cranmer, 
was infected with Lutheran doctrines, though he would The Bible in 

a English, 1538. 

not force them on the church in opposition to the royal 
will. For a time the king let himself be ruled hy the 
vicar-general and the archbishop. Miles Coverdale's 
edition of the English Bible, which William Tyndale 
had translated, was not only published in England but 
by royal command appointed to be read in the churches 
( 1 53S). ' Two years before, new articles of religion were 
set forth, by the king's own hand, prescribing what 
Christians should believe. They simplified the Roman 
formula, but retained its most important features, lagging 
far behind Luther and the Swiss and French reformers. 
Henry himself was no Protestant. Only necessity had 
forced him to break with the papacy, and he hated 
Luther as soundly after the divorce as before it. 

The outrageous conduct of the people, who broke the 
windows of the abbey churches and insulted the priests 
at mass, caused the king to draw back from all reforms 
of doctrine which looked toward Protestantism. In 
1539 the "Six Articles," the hateful "whip of six 
strings" for the correction of Protestants, were enacted "The whip of 
in accordance with his wish by Parliament. It declared 
six points of doctrine, the denial of any one being 
heresy ; the heretic punishable with death on the sec- 

1 Tyndale's New Testament was printed at Mainz, in Germany, in 1525, in a 
small octavo volume. It was full of errors, and the bishop of London, in tin- 
hope of suppressing it, bought up the edition and burned it in St. Paul's 
churchyard, a silly puce « ■ f business, which enabled Tyndale to bring out 
other editions. Coverdale's first complete Bible in English appeared in 
( ic tober, 1535, Matthew's Bible in 1537, and, in 1539, Coverdale's "Great 
Bible," a copy of which was commanded by the king to be placed in every 
parish church for the common use of the people. The reaction came soon, 
and in 1542 we find the bishop of London forbidding " all crowding to read, 
or commenting on what is read." 



six strings. 



178 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

ond, if not the rirst, offense. The six strings were : 
(1) transubstantiation — the dogma that the blessing of 
the priests at communion transforms the bread and wine 
into the actual body and blood of Christ ; (2) com- 
munion in only one kind (bread) for laymen ; (3) celi- 
bacy of the priesthood (Luther and his preachers might 
marry) ; (4) inviolability of vows of chastity made by 
monks and nuns ; (5) necessity of private masses ; (6) 
necessity of confession of sins to a priest. The heavy 
penalties consequent upon infraction of these articles 

— . were for a time kept 
off by the hand of the 
vicar-general. 

Cromwell, whose 
policy had won him 
the nickname "the 
h a m m e r of the 
monks," was beset 
by enemies. The 
■^i despoiled abbots, the 
1 subjected clergy, the 

proud nobles, who 
Hampton Court Pala< s. 

chafed at the suprem- 
acy of a commoner, all strove to ruin him with the king. 
As Cromwell's advice in regard to the divorce of one 
queen was the means of his rise, his recommendation of 
another hastened his fall. 

In 1536 Anne Boleyn, whose family were of the Prot- 
estant faction, incurred the king's displeasure, and a 
, subservient Parliament declared the marriage void. 

1 xe< ution of ° 

Anne Boleyn. gi ie was executed as a traitor, 1 and her bereaved hus- 

1 The unfortunate queen seems to have been free from the guilt of unfaith- 
fulness, with which she was charged. She kept up a show of gaiety to the 
end. "The executioner," she said to the lieutenant of the Tower, " is very 
skilful and my neck is very slender," smiling as she spanned it with her 
lingers. She left one child, the Lady Elizabeth, afterward " the virgin queen." 




The Tudor Despotism. 



179 



band solaced himself next day by marrying Jane Sey- 
mour. Jane died in 1537, giving birth to a son, 
Edward, who was declared heir to the throne, his half- 
sisters, Mary the Catholic and Elizabeth, having been 
debarred from the succession on the ground of illegiti- 
macy. For three years the sovereign lived single, 
taking his fourth wife, in 1540, on the recommendation 
of Cromwell. This marriage was a device of this pru- 
dent minister to gain a political alliance with the Protes- 
tant princes of Germany. The lady was a sister of the 
elector of Saxony. The foreign princess proved to be 
tall, coarse, and ill-featured — "a Flanders mare!" the 
king said when he first saw her. Her homely face was 
Cromwell's death-warrant. Henry withdrew his sup- 
port from the man who, as he thought, had trifled with 
him. The Catholic Howard, Duke of Norfolk, the 
leading noble, accused the vicar-general of treason. 
Conviction, without a hearing, and execution followed 
in a few days, and in July, 1540, one of the strongest 
heads that ever directed English affairs fell beneath the 
axeman's stroke. 1 As for poor German Anne, the king 
soon cast her off, and married in her stead Catharine 
Howard, a niece of the Duke of Norfolk. The How- 
ards remained in great influence at court until near the 
close of the reign, although Henry kept the govern- 
ment well in hand and through his ministers exercised 
greater powers than had been wielded by any king 
since Magna Charta. 

Parliament met, it is true, with considerable regular- 
ity, but neither House dared, or cared, to oppose the 

1 Cromwell in the pursuit of his ends had once propounded to the judges 
the question whether " if Parliament should condemn a man to die for 
treason without hearing him in his own defense the attainder could ever be 
disputed." The subservient judges, suspecting what reply was wanted, 
answered that the decree of Parliament could never be reversed. It was 
afterward noted, says Hallam, that Cromwell was himself the earliest to 
suffer under this monstrous interpretation of justice. He was disposed of by a 
bill of attainder jammed through Parliament without his knowledge. 



Henry marries 
Jane Seymour, 
1536. 



Fall of Crom- 
well, 1540. 



Queen 

Catharine 

Howard. 



i So 7a glish History . 



will of the sovereign. In the House of Lords the 
Subservience of p0 wer of the church had been crushed ; for the mitered 

Parliament. ' 

abbots sat there no longer, and the bishops were the 
nominees of the king. The temporal peers were 
equally submissive. Gibbet and block had removed 

the men who might have led an opposition, and liberal 
grants from the church lands had bound the others to 
their royal patron. A new landed aristocracy had been 
founded by the distribution of the broad acres of the 
monks, and far more of the leading families of England 
date their prominence from the conquest of the English 
Church by Henry than from the conquest of the island 
by William the Norman. The Commons were scarcely 
behind the bonis in their subservience to the wishes of 
the sovereign, for the members of the lower house 
knew the color of Henry's gold and had shared in the 
plunder of the oon\ ents. 

Thus constituted, Parliament, established as a check 
upon royal authority, became a tool of tyranny. The 
king's own court of Star Chamber was not SO quick to 
pass sentence on his enemies as this Parliament, whose 
bills of attainder — at an hour's notice, and without a 
hearing — tried, condemned, and sentenced to confisca- 
tion and death whomsoever the king would destroy. 

Although the Howards were Catholics, none dared 
whisper to the king the possibility of restoring the 
papal authority in the English Church. Henry had 
not gone far toward Protestantism, but he had settled 
this one point : that no pope of Rome should supplant 
an English king in any department of ehureh or state. 
In continental polities his sympathies were with the pope 
against the Protestants. Reform in the ehureh he un- 
doubtedly desired, a\\^\ to some extent he carried his de- 
sire into execution. The service in English churches was 



Bills of 
attainder 



Doctrinal 
reforms. 



The Tudor Despotism. 



pruned of certain superstitious practices ; the litany and 
prayers were revised and printed in English, and, with 
some restrictions, the English Bible was recommended 
to the people as the ground of their faith and life. 

The king and the men who stood with him against 
the Lutheran Reformation hoped that a universal 
council of Christendom might peacefully incorporate councilor 
these moderate changes in the Roman Church, and 
thus Stay, if not close, the schism which was rending the 




Wes i minni h r Abbey, 

Catholics of Western Europe. In 1543 Henry is again 
found in alliance with the Fanperor Charles V. for a war 
with France. Leagued with Charles he hoped to sway 
the proposed Catholic council to his moderate schedule 
of reform ; but the council held at Trent in 1545 blasted 
this hope. It denounced the heresies of England as 
well as those of the ( ierman reformers, and it reasserted 
the beliefs and practices against which Luther had pro- 
tested, and those which the English had abandoned. 
The Council of Trent determined that there should 



[82 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

be no compromise between Rome and Protestantism. 
But the theologians had no terrors for the English 

king. He refused to retrace a single step which 
separated him From the papacy, nor would he advance 
further toward the Protestantism which was growing 

around him. While lines between the two parties wire 
being more strictly drawn, the Howards and Bishop 
Gardiner leading the Catholics, and Cranmer and 
Latimer showing more of the Protestant color, King- 
Henry stood by himself, leaning toward neither faction. 

Protestant Anne Askew 1 and three others, who denied the first 

of the "Six Articles. " were burned for their heresy ; but 
on the other side bishop Latimer, "downright Father 
Hugh," the leader of Protestant thought and the raciest 
and most eloquent preacher of his time, was acquitted 
of heretical guilt. 

Shortly before his death the king changed ministers 

b,,.^^,.,, again: the Howards went to the Tower, and the Sev- 

t alace revolu- o 

moms, the Earl of Hertford at their head, came to the 
Deathof Henry councibboard. Henry VIII. breathed his last January 
28, 1547. Catharine Howard had already been be- 
headed for most unwifely conduct, which was accounted 
treason, and the king had taken a sixth wife, Catharine 
1 atei marnagc. Parr, who outlived her much-married lord. 

The wars of Henry's later years had been of slight 
importance. In Scotland the authority of the pope was 
still acknowledged, and the influence of France was ever 
present to keep alive the old hatred of England. 

„. _ . . Henry VII. had married his daughter, Margaret, to 

I he Scottish - ° ■ 

marriage. James I\\, king of Scots, in the hope of forming a 

1 Anne Askew was young, beautiful, ami populai with the queen and her 
court ladies. For denying the "veal presence" of God in the mass she was 
mi pi isoned and put to the rack, Barbarous torture failed to draw from her an 
accusation against others, 01 to force from her a recantation. When tied to the 
slake she was informed that her pardon was ready signed, awaiting her disa- 
vow al oi heretical doctrines. She welcomed death in preference. In all twenty- 
eight persons w ere put to death for heresy under the " whip with six strings." 



The Tit dor Despot ism. 183 



blood- bond between the sister kingdoms ; but the Scots 

continued to take their cue from France, and Margaret's Scotland allied 

o with b ranee. 

son (James V.) even invaded his uncle's realm, albeit 
without success. One condition of the treaty of peace 
was the marriage of James's little daughter, Mary 
Stuart, with Prince Edward, son and heir of Henry 
VIII. Had this been consummated the union of the 
two kingdoms might have been anticipated by fifty 
years. But it was not to be. The French party in the 
northern kingdom defeated the negotiation. 

It was in this reign that Wales was incorporated with 
England (1536), and no distinction held henceforth 
between Welshmen and Englishmen. 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The English Church under Henry VIII. 

The History of the Reformation in England. G. G. 

Perry. 
The Early Tudors. C. E. Moberly. 

2. William Tyndale and the First Printed English 

Bible. 
The English Bible. John Eadie. 
The History of the English Bible. W. F. Moulton. 

3. WOLSEY. 

Wolsey. Creighton. 

History of England. J. A. Fronde. 

4. The Dissolution of the Monasteries. 

Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries. F. A. 

Gasquet. 
See also Froude's History of England. 

Fiction, Etc. 
The Household of Sir Thomas More. Anne Manning. 
The Cloister and the Hearth. C. Reade. 
The Fair Gospeller : Anne Askew. Anne Manning. 
Henry VIII. Shakespeare. 



CHAPTER XL 

The Later Tudors, 1547 A. D. -1603 A. D. 
From the Accession of Edward VI. 
to the Death of Elizabeth. 

Thrff children of Henry VIII. survived him : the 
Lady Mary, daughter of Catharine of Aragon ; the 

Edward VI., Lady Elizabeth, Anne Bolevn's daughter, and Edward, 
the nine-year-old son of Jane Seymour. He had finally 
named his son as his heir, and in case Edward should 
die without issue directed that the inheritance should 
pass in order to the Princess Mary, the Princess Eliza- 
beth, and then to the heirs of Henry VII.'s daughter 
Mary Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk. The will further- 
more appointed a commission of sixteen men to govern 
the kingdom during Edward's minority. 

The regency Unwilling to commit the government wholly either 

to the Reformation or to Rome, the king had shrewdly 
mingled the two English parties in the composition of 
this council of regency, but the ambition of one of its 
members, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, frus- 
trated the plans of the king. Seymour, who was in 
sympathy with the Reformation, was uncle of the boy 
monarch and executor of the royal will. Making the 
most of his advantages he excluded Gardiner, the 
strongest of the Catholics, from the council, gained 
possession of the person of the boy-king, and had him- 

Somerse( self declared Duke of Somerset and "Protector of the 

oi't'ii'oReUm " Realm." Under this title he exercised full royal power 
in the name of his nephew, Edward VI. 

184 



77/r Later Tudors. 185 

To complete the work which King Henry had under- 
taken in Scotland was Somerset's first care. The 
marriage treaty which was to unite King Edward with 
Mary Stuart was yet unfulfilled, and the benefits which 
would accrue from its consummation seemed to warrant 
every endeavor to attain that v\u\. The safety of Eng- 
land was continually imperiled by the proximity of 
Scotland, the ally of France and Rome. The Pro- 
tector led an army across the border to enforce the 
marriage treaty, and defeated the Scottish lords at 
Pinkie Cleugh ( 1 547). ' But Queen Mary was well pj n kie 1547. 
guarded by the Catholic party, who took her to France 

(1548) and destroyed Somerset's hopes by betrothing MaiyStuart 
1 11 1 • r if -ii betrothed to 

her to tin' dauphin, afterward rrancis 11. Francis. 

The Protestant party was unchecked throughout 

Edward's reign. Somerset was its natural leader and 

~ ..'.,.. . ., c , 1 Cranmer's 

Lranmer his willing assistant 111 all matters of church reforms. 

reform. In Henry's time the archbishop, though inclin- 
ing toward the new doctrines, had allowed himself to be 
governed by the royal will, and had not permitted his 
Protestantism to injure him in the king's favor. He had 
married a wife in Germany, but at a crack of the "whip 
of six strings" had ignominiously deserted her. Yet 
Protestant he was at heart, and Edward's accession left 
him free to bring the English Church into conformity with 
the reformed doctrines. ( )ther bishops — the learned Rid- 
ley of London, the eloquent Latimer of Worcester — and 
such theologians as Bucer and Peter Martyr assisted in 

1 In the battle of Pinkie the English with field artillery, 6,000 horse ami 
10,000 foot, few of whom had firearms, attacked the 30,000 Scottish pikenun 
<m a side hill. The Scots "stood at defense, shoulders nigh together, the 
fore ranks stooping low, will nigh to kneeling, their fellows behind holding 
their pikes in both nands. the one end ol the pike against the right foot, the 
other against the enemy s breast, . . . so thick that a bare finger shall as 
r,r.il\ pierce through the hi i sties of an an.nrv hedc,elioe, as an v encounter the 
front oi their pikes." The first charge was c he< ked by this bristling wall, but 
cannon soon made gaps in the array and the horsemen rallying put the Scots 
to Right, " leaving the hillside like a woodyard," strewn with pike-staves. 



1 86 Twenty Centuries of English History, 



Hal lam's 
summary. 



' rhe Book 
ot Common 
Prayer." 



the work. Hallam sums up in six paragraphs the inno- 
vations which were forced upon the English Church in 
the reign of Edward VI. 

i. English supplanted Latin as the language of the 
service. Prayer, homily, and hymn were henceforth 
in a speech understood of the people. Erom the 
Romish missal and breviary, with such excisions and 
additions as the revised creed required, Cranmer trans- 
lated the first " Book of Common Prayer" (1548 >. 

2. Statues, paintings, windows, and altars, which 
the ignorant populace had regarded with a veneration 
which approached idolatry, were now destroyed, and 
ceremonials, such as the use of incense, tapers, and 
holy water, were forbidden. ' 

3. The adoration of the saints and the Virgin Mary 
was forbidden, the doctrine of purgatory was denied, 
and prayers for the souls of the dead were given up. 

4. Auricular confession was made optional. Hence- 
forth the believer might or might not confess his sins in 
the ear of the priest and receive absolution. This 
liberty soon put an end to the use of the confessional in 
England. 

5. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation was 
abandoned, and "the doctrine of the real presence of 
the body and blood in the bread and wine of the com- 
munion-table was explicitly denied." 

6. Lastlv, priests were allowed to marry." 

The "Six Articles" were repealed. The harsh laws 
against Lollardry were erased from the statute books, 

1 The favorites of the court were endowed with the estates of the church 
until, as Latimer complained, "The clergy, kept to soriy pittances, were 
forced to put themselves into gentlemen's houses and serve as clerks of 
kitchens, etc.," to keep from starving. Another says that the houses of 
private citizens were hung " with altar cloths, their tables and beds covered 
with copes, that some at dinner drank from chalices." 

•- '• It was said that the married priests had the altar vestments made over 
into dresses for their wives." 



The Later Tudors. 



187 



The Forty-twc 
Articles. 



Reform from 



for the leaders of the church had at last caught up with 
the principles of the persecuted Wyclifites. Forty-two 
"articles of religion" were set forth in 1552 by Cran- 
mer, embodying the principles of the Reformation. 1 

These changes were forced down into the church 
from the top. A few statesmen and prelates, the 
merchants of London, and the large towns of the East, 
the scholars of the universities, were heartily in favor of th e top down 
reform. The peasantry wanted back their old priests, 
the mysterious ceremonies, Latin chants, and wonder- 
working relics which had been the attractive part of 
their religion. With the destruction of the monasteries, 
now followed by the suppression of several thousand 
chantries, chapels, and colleges, hard times had dawned 
for the peasants, for the new landowners living in Lon- 
don were more exacting than the monkish landlords. 

Moreover a new industry was supplanting agriculture. 
The value of English wool, rising steadily with the discontent, 
growth of cloth manufacture in Flanders, turned the 
English plow-land into sheep farms. Tenants were 
evicted from their holdings to make room for these 
pastures, and common-land was seized by the manor 
lords and enclosed for private use. Wages dropped as 
the price of food mounted higher. 

It was natural for the ignorant to believe — as their 
discontented priests doubtless told them — that these 



1 The following entries in the diary of Bishop Blandford of Worcester show 
the gradual transformation of the church service in these years : 

"1547. — Candlemas day : No candles hallowed or borne. Ash Wednesday : 
No ashes. 

" 1548. — Palm Sunday : No palms or cross borne in procession. Easter eve.: 
No fire, but the Paschal Taper and the Font. Easter day : The Pix with the 
Sacrament taken out of the Sepulchre, they singing ' Christ is risen ' without 
procession. Good Friday : No creeping to the cross. Oct. 26 : The cup with 
the body of Christ was taken away from the Altars. 

" 1549— Good Friday : No Sepulchre, or service of Sepulchre. Easter Eve.: 
No Paschal Taper, or Fire, or Incense, or Font. Apr. 23 : Mass, Matins, 
Evensong, and all other services in English. 

" All Mass Books, Graduals, Pies, Portasses, and Legends, brought to the 
3ishop and Burnt." 



1 88 Twe?ity Centuries of English History 



Fall of 

Somerset. 



Northumber- 
land Protector. 



Edward's 
foundations. 



Death of 
Edward VI. 
1553- 



miseries sprang from the new religion. This they did 
believe, and became riotous in their demonstration 
against their "heretical" rulers. 1 The Catholics — a 
quiet but numerous party in the council — had always 
opposed Somerset, and when these troubles broke out 
in Norfolk his enemies combined to give the chief com- 
mand to their colleague, John Dudley, Earl of War- 
wick, son of that magistrate Dudley who had perished 
with Empson, in the first months of Henry YIII. Soon 
after (1550) he was made Duke of Northumberland and 
" Protector of the Kingdom." 2 

Though a mere boy, and in delicate health, King 
Edward was wonderfully precocious. In books and 
study, especially the ponderous theological works with 
which the age abounded, he took strange delight. He 
loved to listen to the sermons of Ridley and the sharp- 
tongued Latimer, and in what way he could he was zeal- 
ous to bring in the Reformation. By his order twenty 
grammar schools were founded in English towns, and the 
old house of the Grey Friars in London was given up to 
Christ's Hospital for the famous school of the Bluecoat 
boys. 3 At the age of sixteen his frail constitution yielded 
to consumption and he died on July 6, 1553. 

1 Sheep-grazing became almost a mania with English landholders in this 
century, and the dispossessed tenants and unemployed farm laborers were 
bitter against the landlords. In Norfolk one Robert Ket, a tanner, led a 
riotous demonstration. The insurgents demanded that gentlemen should not 
enclose common lands, that bondmen should be set free, and that the power of 
the landlord to turn out a tenant-farmer should be restricted. 

2 Somerset was accused of treason and felony, acquitted of the former and 
condemned upon the latter charge, and beheaded January 22, 1552. 

s This dissolution of the monasteries had broken up most of the best 
schools in England, and even the universities were crippled. Some of the 
confiscated property of the chapels and chantries was applied by Edward VI. 
to the foundation of these grammar schools. A writer of the time touches 
upon the discredit of learning : "There were none that had any heart to put 
their children to any school, any farther than to learn to write, to make them 
apprentices or lawyers. The 'two wells of learning, Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, are dried up,' students decayed, of which scarce an hundred left of a 
thousand, and if in seven years more they should decay so fast there would 
be almost none at all." In his plundering of church property, the Protector 
Somerset would have destroyed Westminster Abbey had not the citizens of 
London and the vestry taken measures to protect the time-honored sanctuary. 



The Later Tudors. 189 



Foreseeing the king's untimely end, Northumberland 
had formed a plan for the succession. By the terms Lady Jane 
of Henry's settlement the Princess Mary — Catholic and 
papist though she was — must be queen. This daughter 
of Catharine of Spain had refused to accept the new 
tenets and practices, and had clung to the old religion 
with true Tudor obstinacy. Northumberland, who had 
a private advantage to serve, persuaded Edward to 
change the order of succession. Both princesses were 
set aside as illegitimate, and the crown was passed over 
to the descendants of Henry's sister Mary, Duchess 
of Suffolk. The heiress thus designated was Lady Jane 
Grey, a beautiful and high-minded Protestant girl — the 
wife of the scheming Protector's son. 

The death of Edward brought these plots to light. 
Eluding the Protector's grasp the Princess Mary rallied ? 5 53-T 5 ^8. ary ' 
her friends in Norfolk. Northumberland proclaimed 
his daughter-in-law queen and for ten days (June 10-19, 
: 553) s ^e bore the title, 1 but she had no national 
support. The Protector's men deserted him, and with 
tears of chagrin on his cheeks he was forced to accept Fail of 
the triumph of Mary Tudor. The daughter of Henry land. Um 
VIII. was hailed with joy in London. Lady Jane 
and her husband were placed in the Tower, and North- 
umberland was beheaded. The papists were in the 
saddle. The Catholic bishops were restored to their 
cathedrals, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer were de- 
posed, and the two latter cast into prison. Bishop 
Gardiner became chancellor and leader of the council. 

Queen Mary's heart was set upon a complete restora- 

1 Lady Jane Grey had been the friend and companion of her cousin, the late 
king, who was of her own age and studious tastes. She protested against 
her father-in-law's ambitious program for her and entered upon it only in 
response to the entreaties of Northumberland and his son, her beloved 
husband. When her ten days of tedious glory ended in Mary's triumph the 
gentle girl returned to her home and her books, asking only to be let alone. 



190 Twenty Centuries of English History 



The pope's 
partisan. 



rhe counter- 
revolution. 



tion of the papal power in England. She was her 
father's daughter in the firmness of her will, but other- 
wise she was the true child of her Spanish mother. 
Her cousin, the king and emperor Charles V., of 

Spain, was her po- 
litical mentor. 

The counter-revo- 
lution was cautiously 
begun. 1 The fust 
backward step was 
the restoration of the 
religious system to its 
condition at the death 
of Henry VIII. The 
ant i- led lard legis 
lation was revived ; 
again the six-stringed 
whip became the test 
of orthodoxy. Mass 
was said in the 
chinches and (.'ran 
mer's prayer-book 
gave way to the Latin 
missals and breviaries. Married priests were hooted 
out of their parishes and images of the saints and Virgin 
were' brought in. For the most part this reaction took 
plaee quietly ; in some quarters it was hailed with de- 
light, for the populace had not kept pace with the 
bishops, and the commands to believe this doctrine and 
discard that dogma had often fallen upon uncompre 
hending ears. So far the queen was satisfied with the 

i Latin mass was restored at hei coronation and she had already shown lu-i 
hand bj a proclamation forbidding hei subjects to use " the devilish terms of 
Papist, Heretic, and such like," togethei with "private interpretation of 
God's \\.>i>1 by men's own brains. In [554. the religion of the realm was 
declared t>> be the same as existed in 1539 before the breach with Rome. 




The Later 'fit dors. 191 



progress of her reign ; the sagacious emperor counseled 
lur against forcing her people to accept the pope's 
supremacy again or to give back the lands and revenues 
which they derived from the distribution of the property 

of the church. As long as she was content with this 
moderation Mary retained a measure of popularity. It 
was tin- project of the "Spanish marriage" which first 
tunnel her subjects from her. 

The emperor urged the queen to fortify her position 
In' marrying his son Philip, heir to his possessions in The Spanish 
Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries. Philip was a 
papist of the bigoted stripe, 1 and Mary's union with 
him would insure the supremacy of the pope in Eng- 
land, and might eventually found a Catholic league, 
which should overpower the Protestant princes of 
Germany, and close by force the schism in Christendom. 
All English Protestants who lived in the hope of better 
times ahead, all English patriots who dreaded the 
interference of foreign pope or king in England's gov- 
ernment, all selfish lords and commons whose share 
in the monastery lands bound them to uphold the Opposition, 
system of King Henry VIII., were united against the 
proposed match. There were isolated risings in the 
West against the marriage with the Catholic prince, 
and in Kent fifteen thousand men gathered under Sir 
Thomas Wyatt and swooped down on London. The 
personal courage of Mary Tudor called twenty thousand 

r a j j ^ V\ yatt's 

Londoners to her defense. "Stand fast against these rebellion. 
rebels," she cried in her harsh man's voice. "Lear 
them not, for I assure you I fear them nothing at all." 

1 Philip's father, Charles. V., regretted to the day ol ins death that he had 
not put Luther to death. Philip himself, tin- pcts< i mm of the inn, h i'i..i. ■ . 
tants, once burnt thirteen persons as a thank-offering for deliverance from 
shipwreck. To the entreaties ol the kinsmen oi someofhis victims he said 
" he would cai 1 y fagots to the pile oi lus own sou it the prince should e\ ei 
become a Lutheran." 



192 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Wyatt was captured and beheaded. There had been 

talk of putting Lady Jane Grey in Mary's place; her 

execution, 1 with that of Lord Dudley, her husband, dis- 

DeathofLady pelled such treasonable dreams. Some of the rebels 

Jane Grey. 

had cheered for the Princess Elizabeth and Edward 
Courtenay, and Mary deemed best to lodge them in the 
Tower. The emperor thought the scaffold a fitter place 
for them, but Mary's English advisers dared not tempt 
English loyalty too far, and after a time Courtenay went 
abroad, and Elizabeth, in the seclusion of Chaucer's 
Woodstock, studied book-lore with Roger Ascham, and 
romped with the country squires. 

The queen took confidence to go forward. Parlia- 
ment consented to the unpopular match and in mid- 
PhiiipinEng- summer of 1554 Philip of Spain married his English 
bride at Winchester. But the council, though impotent 
to prevent the union, had influence enough to rob it of 
its most threatening consequences. The Spaniard was 
called by courtesy "king of England," but the jealous 
Parliament never crowned him, and denied his right 
to the throne in case the queen should die childless. 

Mary's policy unfolded rapidly. To restore the 
realm completely to the bosom of "mother church" 
was her cherished aim. Parliament reversed the sen- 
tence of treason which stood against Cardinal Pole, who 
now came back as the pope's legate. This was followed 
by a formal declaration in favor of reunion with Rome. 
Queen Mary, Philip, and the lords and commons of 

1 The self-possession and strength of mind of this remarkable princess 
never deserted her. From her window in the Tower she witnessed her 
husband taken to the block and saw his headless body brought back in a cart. 
The tidings of his calm demeanor on the scaffold reassured her. Her last 
words addressed to the bystanders, at the closing scene, were mild and 
uncomplaining. Instead of denouncing the queen's government she accepted 
the blame of having allowed herself, however unwillingly, to be used as the 
tool of ambitious men, and hoped " that the story of her life might at least be 
useful, by proving that innocence excuses not great misdeeds, if they tend 
anywise to the destruction of the commonwealth." Then with the utmost 
serenity she submitted herself to the headsman. 



The Later Tudor s. 193 

England went down on their knees in the presence 

of the pope's representative on November 30, 1554, ^g 11 ^ feet of 

and, humbly confessing their sin of schism and rebellion, 

received the church's absolution and the pontifical 

blessing. Save for the dismantled abbeys, whose lands 

could not well be restored, the English Church now 

stood where it had been before Luther dreamed of 

"justification by faith," or Henry Tudor cast off the 

pope's authority that he might wed the lady of his 

fancy. 

The latter half of Mary's reign is black with memories „ 

J ° Burnings at 

for England. She undertook to blot out the Protestant smithfieid and 

. . . Oxford. 

stain from her people with blood. The surviving 
leaders of the Reformation paid dearly for their acts. 
Bishops Hooper and Ferrar were condemned for heresy 
and burned. John Rogers, who had helped Tyndale 
translate the Scriptures, died exulting amid the flames. 
Rowland Taylor, pious and beloved, was burned in his 
own parish of Hadley. The learning of Ridley and the 
wit of the noble Latimer availed nothing. These two 
bishops perished in one fire in Oxford, October 16, 
I 555- 1 The gray-haired Cranmer had double claims to 
Mary's hatred, for he not only stood first among the 
reforming clergy, but it was his decree which divorced 
Mary's mother and broke her Spanish heart. The 
irresolute archbishop renounced his faith to save his 
life. But Mary was relentless. Six times the wavering 
Cranmer avowed and disavowed his heresy, but when burned. 

1 Latimer, the Protestant hero of three reigns, died grandly. " Three 
things," said his chaplain, " he did specially pray. First, for grace to stand 
till death. Second, that God would restore the Gospel to England once 
again; and these words 'once again, once again' he did so inculcate and 
beat into the ears of the Lord God, as though he had seen God before him 
and spake face to face. Third, he prayed for the Lady Elizabeth, whom with 
tears he desired for a comfort to this comfortless England." It is said that 
"he received the flame as if embracing it, and stroking his face with his 
hands, bathed them in the fire, crying out vehemently in his own English 
tone, ' Father in heaven, receive my soul 1 ' " 



194 Twenty Centuries of English History, 



they bound him to the stake his spirit rose, and, thrust- 
ing his right hand into the hottest flame, he exclaimed, 
"This hand wrote the recantation, and it shall be the 
first to suffer punishment." 

These names were not alone among the English 
martyrs. Smithneld fires burned often in 1556 and 
1557, and in other market-places throughout the king- 
dom men and women gathered to see how the heretics 
would the. Their heroism in death did more than 
pamphlet and preacher to spread the principles tor 
which they suffered. "Play the man, Master Ridley," 

Ridiej and the dying Latimer had been heard to cry to his fellow 

Latimer . 

burned. among the fagots. "We shall this day light such a 

candle by God's grace in England as 1 trust shall never 

be put out." 

For three years these horrid burnings continued, 

the "bloody" Queen Mary pursuing her policy to the 

end. 1 Yet Protestantism grew with each new act of 

repression, and the miserable queen saw with dismay 

[anure! u> ' s the failure of the terrible policy by which she had hoped 
to purify her realm. 

Philip, whom Mary loved almost fiercely, cared 
nothing for her, and on receiving his European in- 
heritance from his father (1556) had quitted England, 
where he was thoroughly detested. Marx's most fn 
vent prayer had been that a son of hers should maintain 

^disappointed the Catholic cause ; but she was childless. The pope, 

1 Under " Bloody " Marj 277 persons were put t.> death for their religion, 
besides 68 who died in prison. Man; of the victims beat foreign names and 
wen.' perhaps Lutheran refugees from the Continent, ["he persecution began 
by striking down only the Protestant leaders, thinking thus to terrify tin 
rank and file, but it soon reached all grades of society, from bishops to the 
rural clergy, and from country gentlemen to .lay laborers. It is reckoned 
thatthe Marian martyrs included 5 bishops, 31 clergymen, s lay gentlemen, B4 
tradesmen, i<><> husbandmen and set vants, 55 women, and .1 children. Some of 
the most impressive instances ol heroism were furnished by women like Rose 
Alkn. who said "the more it burnt the U-ss it felt," and the dauntless boy 
Will 1.1 in Hunter, who surrendered himself to save his fathei . and expired de« 
daring that he was not afraid. Such constancy was more powerful than 
mam sermons, 



The Later Tudors. 195 

whom she wished heartily to serve, would not be 
pacified without money and the restoration of the 
church lands. The portion that remained in the pos- 
session of the crown she did restore, hut to reclaim 
from lxr powerful subjects their lands would have been 
to stir up a rebellion in which all that she had gained 
for Kome would be swept away forever. Gardiner, her 
best adviser, was dead, and Cardinal Pole, his successor, 
was deemed a heretic by Pope Paul IV. and stripped of 
his churchly honors. 

The haughty Philip yielded once to his wife's desire 
for his return. But his brief visit to England added 
to Mary's misfortunes. She sent an army to his aid 
against France. Bui the English could not even defend 

their own. Calais, the last remnant of the English em- .... , , 
' & 1 he loss of 

pire on the Continent, was surprised and taken by Calais, 1558. 

the French in January, 1558. "It was the chiefest 

jewel of the realm," said Mary. " When I die you will 

find 'Calais' written on my heart," was one of the 

pitiful outbursts of the closing months of her life. Her 

body spent with sickness, her spirit bruised by her 

terrible disappointments, with scarcely a friend in the , 

11 J 1 >ea1 ii 0! Queen 

world, poor Queen Mary died November 17, 1558. Mary.isss. 

Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne 
Bolevn, immediately succeeded to the throne. During 

... Queen 

the reiens of Edward VI. and Mary she had held Elizabeth, 
. . . . 1558-1603 

prudently aloof from religious and political controver- 
sies, 1 devoting herself with unusual energy to serious 

i Queen Mary's attitude toward her popular half-sister was one ol bittei 

hatred. It is said that evil-disposi-d persons om e laid a trap lor Lady 
Elizabeth, hoping; to obtain convincing evidence ol her heretical opinions on 

iin' 1 riicial 1 1 in -st ion of the " real presence " of the Mood and body ol Chrisl 

in the Sai 1 ;u in nl. She was asked what sin- thought ol the word , ol Christ at 
the last supper, " This is my hod\ , " « -t • . A ft ■ i ;i In h I pause she replied, 
" ( in 1st was the word that spake it, 

He took the bread and brake it, 

And what the word did make it, 

That 1 believe and take it," 
a. response from which her enemies got no satisfaction 



ioo Twenty Centurii ■ %lish His 



Charai 

Elizabeth. 



study of ancient and modern languages and to archery, 
horsemanship, and the chase — the sports of young men 
of her own age. 

This busy student of Greek now became a woman of 
the great world ; fond of the pomp of courts, coveting 
finery, having gowns by the hundred in her wardrobe, 
and with all her personal vanity craving the flattery 
of her courtiers. She had the stature and shoulders 

of her burly father, 
the voice of a man, 
and a coarse manner 
of speech. 1 Eliza- 
beth's character was 
peculiarly adapted for 
the situation which 
confronted her when 
she ascended the 
throne, and which 
faced her during the 
first thirty years of 
her reign. She was 
a hard, cold, intel- 
lectual woman, de- 
void of strong attach- 
ments and prejudices, 
UUEKN iiuiih shrewd of discern- 

ment,* and full of tact in devising and applying policies. 
The new queen was accepted without openly expressed 

i " Elizabeth spat at a courtier whose coat offended her taste ; she boxed the 
ears of another ; she tickled the back of a great nobleman's neck when he 
knelt to receive ins earldom at her hands; she thought it effeminate ami 
ridiculous not to swear, ami besides her great oaths her tongue was noted for 

its sharp ami witty sallies, from which no oik- was safe." 

- This tiait was displayed in her choice of counselors. Cecil, bacon, Bur- 
leigh, etc., laymen of property and education, the forerunners of the line of 

professional statesmen who have evel Mnce been at the front >>l public affairs. 

Hitherto the chief ministers of the crown had been great ecclesiastics or 
nobles. 




The Later Tudors. 197 



Reformation. 



dissent in any quarter of her realm. Although there 
was no English rival for the crown, the outlook, both in 
England and on the Continent, boded a stormy reign. 
Mary's popish policy, with the bloody persecutions into 
which it had carried her, had not exterminated Protes- 
tantism, but it had aroused a bitter hatred between the 
partisans of the old and the reformed religion. 

Under her Protestant brother, Edward, Elizabeth had 
accepted the forty-two articles of religion as drawn up ^ward the 
1))' Cranmer, and at Mary's accession she had with as 
little difficulty conformed to the Catholic service. For 
herself she had no vital sympathy with either, and it was 
her aim to restore the moderate system which her father 
had established. On one point, however, her mind was 
made up : the Church of England, Catholic or Protest- 
ant, must be united. Circumstances which the imperi- 
ous queen vainly strove to control forced her more and 
more to the side of the reformers, and obliged her to 
make changes in her father's creed ; indeed, her most 
tyrannical measures were those by which she endeavored 
to impose the reformed doctrines and usages upon her 
reluctant subjects. 

The key-note of Elizabeth's purpose was struck by 
the repeal of the laws which had reestablished the 
authority of the popes and lighted the fires of persecu- independence, 
tion. The church's independence of Rome was 
reasserted. The queen was declared the supreme 
governor of the church and all priests were ordered to 
conform to the new rules. The second prayer-book of 
King Edward and Cranmer (1552) was revised and 
made the common book of devotion. Parker, a man of 
her own conservative views, was made archbishop of 
Canterbury. Under his direction (1559-1575) religious 
matters settled themselves peacefully, or would have 



Ecclesiastical 



198 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

done so had it not been for the religious condition of 
Europe. 

That Philip whose marriage with Mary had aroused 
The power of England had now inherited the possessions of his father, 
Charles V. He was king of Spain, and afterward of 
Portugal, of Italy and the Netherlands, and the precious 
metals and rich merchandise of India, Africa, and 
America supplied his treasury. On sea and land the 
Spanish forces were the most formidable in Europe. 
The king who exercised absolute power over this vast 
realm was a bigoted Romanist, the chosen champion of 
papistry. The church was reviving from the shock of 
the Lutheran attack. The limits of Protestant territory 
were now pretty well defined, and they have scarcely 
been altered since. Northern Germany, the Scandina- 
vian countries, Holland, and to a certain degree Eng- 
land and Scotland, no longer looked to the pope for 
guidance. There had been Protestants in Italy, but 
Philip's hand was there upheld by the Inquisition, and 
the "heresy" vanished before him. 
The Catholic ^ new f ervor inspired the priests and princes of Ca- 

reaction. tholicism. The "Society of Jesus," better known as 

"Jesuits," founded by Loyola, devoted itself with a 
complete consecration, unmatched since the early days 
of the church, to the task of redeeming the world from 
heresy. In the Spanish Netherlands the iconoclasm of 
the Protestants went to such extremes that Philip was 
obliged to send an army against them. France, which 
ranked next to Spain among Catholic lands, was 
weakened by the incompetence of its king and by the 
religious wars upon the French Protestants, or Hugue- 
nots, as they were called. The Catholics of Scotland, 
few in numbers but ably led, could count upon the 
support of France, at whose court their queen resided. 



The Later Tudor s. 199 

The circumstances above narrated determined Eliza- 
beth's course. She could not be a Catholic, for no coquetting 

with the 

English Catholic would recognize her, Anne Boleyn's Catholic 
daughter, as the lawful successor of Mary Tudor. 
Philip offered her his hand in the hope of impressing 
England into the troop of papal countries which he had 
united to the Spanish crown. She put him off for a 
year and then denied him — her people had had enough 
of Spanish marriages. Then he sought a political alli- 
ance with her until he might take by force what he might 
not win by favor. But France feared his ambition, and 
France, too, sought an alliance with the queen. Cather- 
ine de Medici, the queen-mother, offered her first one 
prince and then another (Anjou and Alencon) in mar- 
riage, but Elizabeth, after long coquetry, rejected both, 
for a league with Catholic France was almost as threat- 
ening to the peace of England as a connection with Spain. 

Still another arrangement was possible. William 
Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Elizabeth's most trusted adviser, 
favored war. He wanted England, as champion of all Burleigh's 
the Protestant states and factions, to take up the gaunt- '"' ' 
let that Philip had thrown down. But the frugal queen 
started the council with her emphatic words, " No war, 
no war ! my Lords ! " She preferred to use diplomacy. 

Through the confusion of the time the queen's eye 
saw England's need of peace, and she determined to 
postpone as long as possible the inevitable war. Mean- 
while she covertly sent aid to the Presbyterian lords 
of Scotland, who were struggling against a French Diplomacy, 
regency, shrewdly hindered Philip in his war against 
the Dutch, and afforded scanty sustenance to the 
Huguenots. So long as she could keep the Catholics 
of Spain, France, and Scotland from joining hands 
against her, she was safe. 



200 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

The northern peril was most embarrassing. Her 
young cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and wife of 
the king of France, was a devout Catholic, and the 
hope of the papal party who scoffed at Elizabeth's title. 
At the French court Mary allowed herself to be 




Bedroom ok Cjuekn Mary at Holyrood. 

addressed as "Queen of England," and upon the 
death of her youthful husband (1560) she returned to 
Edinburgh. Elizabeth's fleet failed to intercept her in 
the Channel and her arrival was hailed with rejoicing — 
tempered somewhat when the Presbyterian elders who 
in s r cofiaiid rt were in control of the government learned of her inten- 
I 5 fil - tion of attending mass with all the elaborate ceremonial 

of Rome. l The relations between the royal cousins 
were violently strained. Elizabeth could not publicly 

1 The Queen of Scots, accustomed to the gaiety of the French court, soon 
became an abomination in the eyes of the Presbyterian preachers, the re- 
former John Knox most of all. To them the service of the mass was 
idolatry, and "idolater" was the gentlest name they could find for this 
girl-widow of nineteen years. The Church Assembly addressed a solemn 
protest to her. The populace desecrated her chapel, and KtlOX publicly be- 
lated this "Jezebel" until She broke down and wept uuqneenly tears in his 
presence. 



The Later Tiulors. 201 



admit Mary's right to succession in England, for the 
probability of another " Mary the Catholic " would have ^^;\ 
endangered lx-r own throne. Neither dared she sele< I 
any successor nor inspire hopes of an heir by marrying 
one of her many suitors. For England's sake she must 
remain unmarried and let her hand be used as a piece in 
the deep game of statecraft which she played. 

Mary Stuart's presence in Scotland brought trouble 
for the English Catholics. Most of the bishops and 
nearly two hundred parish priests had left their cathe- 
drals and churches, rather than adopt the book of 
common prayer and the other adjuncts of the reformed 
service, but most of the clergy had accepted the changes 
without demur. In 1562, however, when Mary's plans 
seemed to augur success and the Catholic prospects 
brightened, the pope lent his aid to increase Eliza- 
beth's perplexities. !!<• forbade Catholics to attend any 
service in which the prayer-book was used ( r.562). 
Parliament first fined all who refused to attend church 
and in 1563 passed the "Test Act," which compelled The Test Act, 
all persons holding office in church or state to swear to 
obey the queen rather than the pope. At the same time 
the forty-two articles of Cranmer's creed were cut down 
to the "Thirty-nine Articles," which, with slight re- TheThirt 
vision, still remain the standard of Anglican belief, nine Articles. 
Thus Elizabeth had been forced from the ground on 
which her father stood to the advanced Protestant po- 
sition of Edward. 

Mary Stuart caught a new inspiration from the news 
of Catholic dissatisfaction in England. She had not un- 
dertaken to force her own religion upon Scotland, but 
she now gained strength with English papists by marry- 
ing her cousin Henry Stuart, Eord Darnley, who, next 
to Mary herself, was the- presumptive heir of Elizabeth. 



I 

rhe fruit oi their union was a son. James Stuart, who 
was eventually to unite the crowns of the two kingdoms. 1 
Mary proceeded toward her aim with suicidal reck 
lessness. Her husband, Darnley, had won her hatred 
bj murdering in her own apartment one David R.i 
an Italian, in whom she trusted much, rhe next year 
the house in which her husband slept was blown to 
pieces with gunpowder, .uul Darnley's body was found 

> of . 

Dan near the rums. 1 he 1 an OI DOthwell, for whom she had 

a guilty love, was accused of the murder, and many be 

lieved that Mary was not innocent. " Black" Bothwell's 

trial was a farce, and his marriage with the queen, which 

followed closely upon his acquittal, ended theii career 

in Scotland. A national uprising drove the odious 
Bothwell from the kingdom. Mai v w as deposed .uul im- 
prisoned at Lochleven. Her babe was crowned as lames 
VI. of Scotland, her half brother. James Douglas, the 
Protestant Earl of Murray, acting as regent, Escaping 
from her captors, she soon found supporters, but the 
regent defeated her in battle. She turned, and entered 
scots seeks ° England alone (May, 156s), as a queen in distress, asking 
3,1568 Elizabeth" to restore her to her rightful Scottish throne. 

1 rhe news of the birth of this royal babe reached Elisabeth in the midst o( 
.1 ball m hoi palace of Greenwich, rhe messengei noticed th.it .ill hei |oy and 
high spirits were dampened bythe tidings, "She was sunk in melaw 
and said tohei attendants th.u 'the Queen of Scots was the mothei 01 .1 t.m 
son, w bile she herself was hut .1 barren stock.' " 

• rhe personal relations of the two queens had Ions been strained, Mary 
had resented Elisabeth's interference in Scottish politics, in 1561 siu- had 
said to the English ambassador at Paris: ''Perhaps she [Elisabeth] bears a 
bettor inclination to my rebellious subjects than to me, theii sovereign, her 
equal in royal dignity, hei neai ioI.uumi, and the undoubted heii to her 
..loms. . . . She is pleased to upbraid me .is .1 person little expert" 
enced in the world. I freelj own it ; but age will cure th.u defect. Hov 
ever, 1 am alread] . > '. 1 1 enough to acquit myself honestly .uul courteously 
to my friends .uul relations, .uul to encourage no reports ol youi mistress, 
which would misbecome .1 queen .uul her kiii-.woin.iii. 1 would also say, 
by her leave, tbat I am .1 queen as well .is she, .uul not altogether friend- 
less; .uul perhaps 1 have as great a soul too; soth.it methinks we should be 
upon a level in out treatment ol each other. After hot return to Scotland 
Mary agreed to renounce hei present claim to the English crown 11 Elisabeth 
would declare hei the successor, hut both public policy and the Pudoi 
iusy forbade, rbe unbounded vanitj ol the Englishwoman was Injured 
bythe comparison ofhei ineagei (<oi--on.il charms with the beauty, grace, 
.uul winning mannei of the j oungei queen. 



The I '."I' i Tudo) , 



What to 'I" ■•'•iil> the fugitive Queen of S< the 

Question which puzzled the English government for A p*« 
nineteen years, The regent Mun i gladly rul 

of her, and refused to take her back unle ould 

submil to trial. 'I hi i she de< lined to do, and England 
could nol force a Catholi< tovereign upon a country 
so thoroughly Protestant as Scotland had become under 
the fierce preaching of John Knox and the Calvini 
Mary nexl demanded safe conduct to the Continent 
But from France or Spain she would have plotted with 
advantage against England. At thai very moment the 
Duke of Alvi leral ol Philip of Spain, was m 

r the P ■ itanta of the Low Countries with a 
merciless zeal which has made his name accursed. 1 
His pr< 'i.' e gave hope to the En ■ . h ' atho 
menaced the Huguenots, and challenged English Prot- 
iccor their suffering brothers in the faith. 
As Elizabeth could do nothing with safety, she did 
nothing at all. She would not give up Mary for trial 
in Scotland, nor try her in England, nor conduct her 
into France, nor set her on her throne, w,r admit her 
right, or that of her ion to succeed to the throne of 
England. Under pretense of guarding her from her 
enemi< Elizabeth had Mary held as a prisoner. The 
royal captive became a personal center for Catholic 
plots. The pope launched his most terrible weapon, 
the Bull of Deposition (1569), absolving Elizabetl 
subjects from their obedience. In 1.570 the Duke of 
Norfolk, who had previously proposed marriage with 
the Queen of Scots as the prelude to a papist rising, 

me involved in a new conspiracy: Philip II. 
to end [0,000 men of Alva's army to aid in putting 

1 England wa* I • ampaign, 

d, introdiK ing new indu 



804 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



RkloltVs Plot. 



The Puritans. 



Mary in Elizabeth's seat. This conspiracy, known from 
the name of its agent as "Ridolfi'sPlot," was discovered 
by Lord Burleigh's detectives. Its English accomplices 
were arrested, and Norfolk was beheaded (June, 1572). 
As the excommunication encouraged Elizabeth's 
enemies, it nerved her also to more stringent measures 
against all persons refusing to worship in the legal 
manner. These recusants were of two classes. Besides 
the Romanists, who objected to the reforms in the 
service, there were the Puritans, who complained that 
the reform stopped too soon. They accepted the 

Presbyterians. Presbyterian teachings of John Calvin and the extreme 
Genevan Protestants, and were dissatisfied because the 
English Church retained the rule of bishops, the sur- 
plice for the priests, and other relics of the Roman 
ritual. These people did not wish to withdraw from 
the communion, but they were clamorously in favor of 
purifying the national church while remaining in it. 
These efforts gained them the derisive nickname of 
"Puritans." Puritans and Catholics were alike ex- 
cluded from Elizabeth's scheme of uniformity, and the 
Court of High Commission, which she created in 1583 
to try ecclesiastical causes, soon had its docket crowded. 
Punishment by fines and imprisonment failed to check 
the rise of Puritanism. Toward the close of the reign it 
advanced a stage farther, until some stayed away from 
church altogether, worshiping by themselves out of 
doors, and in dwellings, barns, or warehouses. They 

independents, were called Separatists ' and Independents, and some of 

1 These Separatists abhorred the very idea o( a state church. Their 
"church" was a congregation of spiritually-minded persons associated (<>r 
purposes of worship. Barrowe, one of their boldest champions (the reputed 
author of the savage "Martin Mar-Prelate" tracts against the episcopacy), 

wrote of the slate ehureh in 1590: "Never hath all kind of simie and 

wickedness more universally reigned in any nation at any time, yet all are 
received into the ehureh, all made members of Christ. All these people with 
all these manners were in one daye, with the blast of Queen Elizabeth's 
trumpet, of ignorant papistes and grosse idolaters, made faithful Christians 

atul true professors! " 



The Later Tudoi 205 



these sects gained peculiar names, as, for example, the 

" Brownists," a body of Congregationalists, among congregation- 

whose leaders was one Robert Brown. 

While the rise of new sects showed activity in one 
school of religious thought, the work of the Jesuits in 
England exhibited the zeal of the opposing party. The 
Catholic leaders perceived that their religion must 
eventually lose its hold upon the mind and heart of 
the common people, for the old priests were with few 
exceptions conforming to the reformed order or being 
displaced by Anglican clergymen. The universities 
had come so thoroughly under Protestant influence that 
they no longer recruited the priesthood. Accordingly Progresso f 
zealous English Catholics founded a school at Douay on Protestantism. 
the Continent — another was soon planted at Rome — 
for the training of Englishmen to preach the Catholic 
religion in the island. These "seminary priests" were 
men of unusual, even fanatical, enthusiasm for the work- 
to which they devoted their lives. 

It was declared treasonable to land or shelter the new 
teachers. Parsons and Campion were the first Jesuits 
to brave the law (1580). They traveled in disguise, England" 1580. 
preached in secret, and did effectively reclaim Catholics 
of high and low degree who would otherwise have 
drifted into conformity. The strict enforcement of the 
laws against them deterred tlx-m no more than Mary's 
burnings had dismayed the Protestants. Campion died 
a traitor's death, and several hundred priests and 
teachers suffered a like fate, and were revered as 
martyrs by the Catholics, even as their persecutors 
reverenced Latimer and Ridley and the other stout- 
hearted victims of Smithfield and Oxford fires. 

After the death of Norfolk Elizabeth had a brief 
respite. Her cousin Mary remained in custody, still 



_ 'is A ffisi 

proud and hopeful, still the hope of .ill Catholics who 
Breathing spell. yearn ed for the reclamation of England. Strange news 
came from the Continent. A dozen dangerous years 
had passed and Elizabeth had until now staved off the 
necessity of answering that hard question of a royal 
marriage. Neither France nor Spain could yet free its 
hands from homo affairs long enough to deal out to 
England the chastisement which the pope had ordered. 
As the nation grew in wealth and in unity it was 
swept by new enthusiasms. The cheap hooks which 
had followed the invention of printing, the resultant 
mental awakening, the penetrating force of the Refor- 

\ii age of c'f.n ■ 

endeavoi mation, which stirred all men to their depths, all these 

were bearing fruit in a generation of brilliant English- 
men, (heat exploits were rewarded at Elizabeth's 
court, and among her courtiers were many doers of 
great deeds. Although there was no open war with 
Spain there was the bitterest hatred and the over- 
hanging certainty that, once freed from its entangle- 
ments in Holland, the whole force oi the Spanish 
monarchy would descend upon the Protestant island. 1 
This was enough for the young Englishmen, who could 
not sit quietly at their school-books while the Dutch 
"sea beggars" were harassing the Spanish galleons. 
Philip's vast possessions in America formed a rich prey 
for English buccaneers. They plundered the cities of 
rhe sea-rovers, the Spanish main, intercepted the treasure-ships, darted 
into Spanish harbors, and cut out rich prizes from un- 
der the guns of the forts. Francis Drake, one of the 

boldest of these lawless sailors, had faced worse perils 

than Philip's gibbet, lbs was the first English ship in 
the Pacific Ocean, and his little vessel was the first to 

. rennyson's ballad, " rhe Revenge," foi .1 description of the spirit of 
the time. 



The /."/'> Tudot .. 



207 



carry the English flag around the world. Men of like 
daring were Davis and Frobishei who < tplored the icy 
channels oi America in vain quest for a "northwi ' 
passage ' ' to India. 

The depredations ol sea-rovers like Drake 1 and Haw- 
kins 3 hastened the outbreak of war with Spain. The '■'■ 

1 Spain. 

queen a< 1 epted t li e 
inevitable. Brave 
little Holland was 
fainting in its struggle 
again rt the strongest 
1 in Europe. Wil- 
liam the Silent had 
been k illed by an 
tin ( 1 584), and 
France and Philip 

h a d for in e d t h e 

"League" (15 
to keep the I [ugue- 
not, Henry of Na- 
varre, from the French throne, and to put an end to 
Dutch Protestantism. The union of the two Catholic 
countries wras the signal for England's neutrality tocea 1 

However reluctant to risk the fortunes of war, the 
same instinct of self-preservation which had maintained 
a nominal peace for nearly thirty years now prompted 
the queen to vigorous action. The two Catholic king- 

1 Drake '. but ' .Hi"'-? m 

d him ' ["he Draj upon his name, which in it-. Latin form, 

Dra< 0, ■■■:>. " 

s Sir John Hawkins, who i ed for his suci in the 

slave-trade, concluded his sailing orders thus; "Serve God daily; lov< 
another; pn lerve your victuals; bewan ol fire; and v.'-<:\, good company." 
Hi 1 ,'i'ii-niiv had no doubts of the p ailing, for on 

uds of an outraged Afrii an I 
Go or! '-'li .-1 1 1 hings foi lh< best, would no o and 

by him H name bi praised foi itl and again, 

u viriK in the middle passage, a favoring gale came (r<>rn 

"Aim 1 uffen th 1. pei ish 1 1 . fia ■ 01 ite ship 

w.-i'. thi / u 



a gg« wi ^v m _ -bH. 

* * 9 * * «► 



Hatfield, a-.- Elizabethan Manor. 



1 • ion of 

League. 



208 Twenty Centuries or' English History. 

doms would turn upon England the moment their 
bloody work in Holland was completed. Six thousand 

Leicester's English troops crossed to the Low Countries under 
to^foiiand. command of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Eliza- 
beth's handsome favorite. But the gay man of courts 
tared ill against Philip's seasoned generals and Leicester 
came home in disgrace after his defeat at Zutphen, 
where fell that knightly poet. Sir Philip Sidney. 

Every east wind wafted tidings of danger to Eliza- 
beth. Her succors had not relieved the Hollanders ; 
Henry of Navarre, to whom she paid a begrudged 
subsidy, could scarcely hold his own against the 
league ; and there was rumor, and unmistakable evi- 
dence, too, of fresh conspiracies among the Catholic 
refugees upon the Continent. The hope of each nest of 
intriguers was, willingly or unwillingly, the imprisoned 
queen. 

In [586 the threads of a Catholic plot of which one 
Babington's Anthony Babington ' held the English end were found 
and followed up. Walsingham, Elizabeth's secretary, 
whose spies were everywhere, secured evidence of 
Mary's guilty complicity in their design against the 
queen. Babington was executed with thirteen accom- 
1 a-cs ; still Elizabeth hesitated to do violence to her 
Scottish prisoner. Due regard for her own safely left 
no alternative. A special court tried, condemned, and 
sentenced the Queen of Scots for treasonable connec 
tion with Babington' s plot "for the hurt, death, and 
destruction of the royal person." Even then, although 
she had signed the death warrant, Elizabeth would not 
order its execution, leaving that duty to her secretary. 

1 Babington wis an enthusiastic young Englishman of good family, who 
was devoted to the Catholic religion. Mary's emissaries in Paris fired his 
ardor in her behalf, <hd a personal lour from the royal prisoner hersell 
bound him fore\ ei to hei ser\ ice. 1 !>■ tin ew himself zealously into the i>W>t o( 
a priest named Ballard to murdei Elizabeth and delivei Mary. 



The Later Tudors. 



209 



The " Invinci- 
ble Armada," 



On February 8, 1587, Mary Stuart was beheaded in the 

court of Fotheringay Castle, bequeathing to Philip of Ma ecu stuart f 

Spain her enmity to Elizabeth and her claims to the 's 8 ?- 
English crown. 

Philip was ready to move. For months his fleets 
had hern building and assembling for the conquest of 
England and the Netherlands. Drake, plunging into 
Cadiz Harbor (1587), put back the preparations, and, 
as the rough sailor said, "gave the Spanish king's 
beard a singe." But in 1588 the league had won a 
notable triumph over the Huguenots, and the Duke of 
Parma had arranged matters in the Spanish Nether- 
lands so that he, with 17,000 men, could be spared for 
heavy work in England. In May, 1588, "the most 
fortunate and invincible armada" — so the Spaniards 
fondly named their fleet — set sail on its double errand 
of invasion and conversion. The pope blessed the 
expedition as heaven's chosen instrument for the chas- 
tisement and redemption of the apostate realm. The 
Duke of Medina-Sidonia commanded the armament, 
which was thus made up : "132 war-ships, manned by 
8,766 sailors and 2,088 galley-slaves, and carrying 
21,555 soldiers, as well as 300 monks and inquisitors." 
The fleet was first to proceed to Dunkirk, where 
Parma's army was to be taken on board for the descent 
on the Thames. 

The navy 1 of England, swollen by volunteers, num- 
bered at least as many vessels, most of them of light na vy. " g ' S 

1 The Triumph, which was fir thirtyyears the most powerful ship in the 
1 1 navy, was of somewhat over i ,000 tons burden. She carried 750 men, 
of whom 50 were gunners and !00 oldii I . In hei armory (1578) were 250 
1 1:1 i.|i i' busi i , 50 bowi . [oo sheavi s of arrows, 200 pikes, an' I [oo corselets. 
" II* 1 heavy guns were 4 60-pounder cannon, 3 33-pounder demi-cannon, 17 
[8-pounder culverins, 8 9-pounder demi-culverins, 6 sj^-pounder sakers, and 

■ illi 1 1 - , fall "in is, serpentines, ami rabim ti , 1 hi towering Spanish 

ships furnished a fine mark lor the English gunners, while their own shut 
could not 1" di pn 'I sufficiently to strike the English hulls. The « hi' I 
reliance of th'- Spaniards wis in boarding, which tlia English were able to 
avoid by skilful handling "i theii light< 1 craft. 



21 O 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Elizabeth 

at Tilburv. 



English navj 

tactics. 



tonnage and slightly armed. With the admiral, Lord 
Howard, were Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, and other 
hearts of oak, the heroes of many a rough bout with 
the Spaniards on the high se.is. These gathered in 
Plymouth Sound. At Tilbury Fort the English vol- 
unteers, Catholic 1 and Protestant and Puritan, rallying 

to the defense of 
thei r common 
country, mus- 
tered in throng- 
ing companies, 
and flung their 
caps in the air 
when Elizabeth 
T u d o r rode 
among them and 
with a few queen- 
ly words ex- 
horted them to 
save their common country : "I am come among yon, 
resolved in the midst and heat of battle to live or die 
among you all. I know that I have the body but of a 
weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, 
and of a king of England, too ! " 

On Friday, July 19, the Armada was sighted off the 
Lizard and beacon hres flashed the news over the 
kingdom, and on Saturday Howard went out, not to 
meet but to follow the foe. Until July 27 the English- 
men hung upon the flanks ami rear of the great 
crescent-shaped Spanish fleet, attacking straggling or 




1 The conduct of the English Catholics at this juncture was most patriotic. 
The Armada came as the scourge of the pope tor the chastisement of heretic 
England, yet so far from aiding it by raising revolt they loyally supported the 
queen's government, serving in her armies as volunteers, the rich even 
equipping ships for the naw. The admiral, Lord Howard ol Effingham, was 
himsell a Catholic, 



The Later Tudor s. 2 1 1 

disabled vessels and maneuvering for delay. On the 
28th, at midnight, eight English fire ships bore down 
upon the Spanish vessels crowded in Calais roads. In 
the confusion which ensued Lord Howard gave battle. 
All day Monday, the 29th, the valiant English, re- 
enforced by new arrivals, fought for their queen, their 
country, their religion. Their powder was almost gone 
when the " Invincible Armada" gave up the battle. 

Howard gave chase for several days, making havoc 
of the stragglers ; a great storm completed the destruc- 
tion. The coasts of Norway, Scotland, and Ireland 
were strewn with wreckage, for the Spaniards, cut off 
from retreat through Dover Straits, endeavored to re- 
turn by sailing northward around Great Britain. In Destruction of 
October Philip's shattered fleet dropped anchor in the 
harbors whence it had sailed in pomp five months 
before. Fourscore vessels and 20,000 men were miss- 
ing. "I sent them forth," said the phlegmatic king, 
"against man, not against the ocean," and he thanked 
God that he still had the power to send a larger arma- 
ment. England thanked God for her great deliverance. 

Philip's attack on England was not renewed. His 
far-reaching plans remained unfulfilled. England now 
struck back. Descents were made upon Corunna and 
Lisbon and privateers ravaged the Spanish ocean com- 
merce. While Philip's authority upon the seas de- 
clined he saw his other plans collapse. The popu- phiifp>! e p °ans 
larity and finally the apostasy of Henry of Navarre to 
Catholicism gave him the crown of France as Henry 
IV. and shut out Spanish influence. The death of his 
best general left the Netherlands unpacified, and so they 
continued until 1607, when their freedom was acknowl- 
edged. Philip himself was then nine years dead. He 
had died in 1598, at the age of seventy-one. 



An ago of 
endeavoi . 



Essex in 

Ireland. 



Repressiv 
acts, 



212 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

rhe dispersion of the Armada lifted a cloud that had 
hung over England for a quarter of a century. The 
leadership of Spain was ended forever. Protestant 
great England took her rightful place among great nations. 
• The sagacity, the patience, the diplomacy, and finally 
the courage, of Elizabeth and her staff of devoted 
ministers, Burleigh, Bacon, and Walsingham, had foiled 
the domestic plots of the Catholics, had postponed and 
in the end defeated the onslaught of Catholic Spain. 
Relieved of her tears England sprang forward with an 
exultant bound. Men were eager for opportunities to 
win renown for their country and their "virgin queen." 
The young Karl of Essex, Elizabeth's latest favorite, 
captured the Spanish port of Cadiz. Raleigh in rivalry 
pouneed upon one of the Azores Islands, and Elizabeth 
sent him to jail for the affront to her pet commander. 

Ireland rose in revolt. This kingdom, long divided 
and chaotic, had found a point of union. The English 
Parliament had established by law the Protestant re- 
ligion in Ireland. The Irish were absolutely opposed 
to the new faith, and the attempt to Force it upon them 
compacted them into a nation. The corrective meas- 
ures of England failed utterly. The colonies of English- 
men, who were settled upon confiscated lands, formed 
"Saxon" communities detested by their Celtic neigh- 
bors. Spain aided, and the pope blessed, every insur- 
rection of the Catholic Irish. Essex, who was Eliza- 
beth's choice for every arduous task, was sent to quell 
the revolt of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. 11!- 
failure disgraced him at court, and his audacious 
attempts to save his head angered the aged queen. 
She approved the sentence of treason which was passed 
upon him, ami he was executed February 25, [601. 
His successor lirmlv but mercilessly crushed the Irish 



Tli e Later Tudors. 213 

rebellion, and established English laws, language, and 
customs at the point of the; sword. 

Elizabeth did not neglect Parliament altogether, as 
most of her Tudor predecessors had done, but it did Parliament. 
not often oppose her. Her Test Act excluded the 
Catholic members, who might have formed an obstruct- 
ive force, and the common peril of queen and nation 
and the prevalent belief that her policy was the best 
for all doubtless smoothed her path. Moreover, her 
thrift and her love of peace spared her those constant 
appeals for money which always aroused the opposition 
of the people. Yet the national spirit, which grew 
with the successes of Elizabeth, sometimes asserted 
itself in the House of Commons. A part of the royal 
revenues was derived from monopolies of salt, wines, 
and other commodities. By patent from the sovereign 
the sole right to deal in these articles was granted to 
individuals or corporations, conditioned upon the pay- 
ment of a " royalty ' ' to the government. These taxes Royalties, 
became so oppressive that in 1601 the Commons in- 
dignantly protested, and the queen revoked her patents. ' 

Many charters for trade in America and Asia were 
granted during this reign, and on the last day of the Commerce- 
fifteenth century an association of London* merchants India. 

1 When the Commons thanked her for thus yielding, she made this char- 
acteristic address : "I have more cause to thank you all than you me; for 
had I not received a knowledge from you, 1 might have fallen into the lap of 
an error, only for lack of true information. I have ever used to set the last 
judgment day before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged to answer 

before a higher Judge — to whose judgment-seat I do appeal, that never 
thought was cherished in my heart that tended not to my people's gi ><..]. 
Though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and wise, 
sitting in this seat, yet you never had, or ever shall have, any that shall lie 
more careful and loving." 

2 Sir Walter Besant claims that the wisdom and foresight of Sir Thomas 
Gresham made London the world's commercial center. The religious wars 
in the Low Countries shook the supremacy of Antwerp and Gresham seized 
England's opportunity by building the Bourse or Royal Exchange in London, 
as "the city's brain, a place where merchants could receive news and con- 
sult together." The establishment of the exchange was followed by an un- 
precedented development of commercial enterprise, and London entered upon 
her career as the mart of the world. 



214 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

was chartered as the East India Company, the corpora- 
tion which conquered, and for a time controlled, the 
British Indian Empire. 
Death of Eiiaa- [ n the i, lst years of her life the famous queen became 

beth, 1603, J l 

fretful and nervous ; she who had known no fear kept a 
sword continually in her chamber, and at times thrust it 
through the hangings in quest of concealed assassins. 

Her trusted counselors wore dead. Robert Cecil, son 

of the good Lord Burleigh, became her chief secretary, 
and he it was who told, from the signs which she made 
on her death-bed, that she would have as her successor 
the son of her arch-enemy, Mary Stuart. Elizabeth 
Tudor died at Richmond, March 24, [603, in the 
seventieth year of her age. 
England's The reign of "good Queen Bess" is reckoned the 

u " iru " auc - golden age of England. The patriotic feeling of the 
time is embodied in Shakespeare's panegyric : 

This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, 
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 
This other Eden, demi-paradise ; 

This fastness built by nature for herself 

Against infection, and the hand of war; 
This happy breed of men, this little world ; 

This precious stone, set in the silver sea, 

Which serves it in the office of a wall, 
Or as a moat defensive to a house 
Against the envy of h-ss happier lands. 



TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

Tut': English Martyrs. 

History of England. I. A. Froude. 
book of Martyrs. Fox. 



The Later '1'ndors. 215 



2. Shakespeare and the English Drama. 

English Writers. 1 1. Mnrlry. 

Shakespi are's Predecessors, f. A. Symonds. 

Tin- People for Whom Shakespeare Wrote. C. D. 

Warner. 
English Dramatic Literature. A. W. Ward. 

3. Mary Qi 1 en of Scots. 

Mary Stuart. Robertson. 

4. The English Seamen of the Sixteenth Century. 

English Seamen of the Sixteenth Century. Froude. 
English Seamen tinder the Tudors. Fox Bourne. 
The Spanish Story of 1 1 1 < - Armada. Froude. 
I >rake and the Tudor Navy. ' !orbett. 

I'll HON, IVIC. 

Queen Mary. Tennyson. 

Marie Stuart. S< hiller. 

Kenilworth. Scott. 

Westward I In ! Kingsley. 

Isoult Barry of Wynscote. Emily S. Holt. 

Judith Shakspeare. William Black. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Cavalier and Roundhead, 1603 A. D.-1649 A. D. 

—From the Accession of James I. to 

riii'. Execution of Charles I. 

Henry VIII. had desired that Elizabeth's suceessor 
be taken from the family of his younger sister, the 
Duchess of Suffolk ; but at Elizabeth's death the royal 
council invited the king of Scotland to ascend the Eng- 
lish throne. 

James I. (James VI. of Scotland) was the only son of 
1603-1625. Mary Stuart and Darnley. His Catholic mother had 

been allowed no voice in his education, which was 
strictly Protestant, and even Presbyterian. Weak and 
ungainly of body and slovenly in manner, the king 
really had a mind of considerable keenness, though one 
pedant."" of the Scots divines had called him "God's silly vas- 

sal." He was especially learned in theology — "the 
wisest fool in Christendom," sneered Henry of Navarre 
— and was inordinately proud of his acquirements. A 
man of such parts — physical cowardice was a marked 
feature of his character, and a Scotch accent marred his 
speech to delicate ears — cut a sorry figure before the 
subjects of "bluff King Hal" and "good Queen 
Bess." 

The Puritan agitation was the first subject which was 

brought to King James's attention. As he passed 

rheMMenary southward toward London (i6o"0, the "Millenary 

Petition. . . ,, _ 

Petition, signed by about 1,000 Puritan pastors, was 

216 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



217 



offered to him. 1 It urged him to purify the English 
ecclesiastical system from the lingering taint of Roman- 
ism. It will be remembered that the reformers of 
Edward VI. 's reign — Cranmer and his supporters — 
were the high officers of the church, enlightened men, 
who introduced changes more rapidly than the common 
people were ready to receive them. Hence the Catholic 
reaction under Mary had been easy. The long reign of ctergyand 
Elizabeth had spanned two generations. The English 
Bible had become for the first time the one household 
book in thousands of 
families, and its influ- 
ence had contributed 
to an e n o r m o u s 
growth of the Puri- 
tans. The situation 
of Edward's reign 
was now reversed. 
The bishops, ap- 
pointed by the crown, / 
were conservative, y 
pledged to maintain ,* 
the church, as estab- I 
lished by law, and 
subject to rebuke and 

discipline if lenient toward innovators ; the people, on 
the other hand, with many of the lesser clergy, were 
strongly Puritanical, and to King James they came with 
their petition. 

The petitioners had their trouble and something 
worse for their pains. In 1604 the king summoned 

1 The popery protested against consisted in such minor matters as the 
words "absolution " and "priest " in the prayer book, the use of the sign of 
the cross in baptism and of the ring in marriage. They decried " longsome- 
ness of service and the abuse of church songesand music." They would have 
the power of excommunication restricted, and demanded that none should be 
01 dained who could not preach. 




James I. 



Hampton Court 
Council, 1604. 



218 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

four Puritans to a conference at Hampton Court ' with 

eighteen prelates of the church. This famous confer- 

rhepetition ence denied the petition, and the king, after a savage 

denunciation of Presbyterian government (which he 

knew by bitter experience at home), ordered the 
bishops to compel their clergy to conform strictly to 
the rules of the church. Star Chamber Court adjudged 
signers of the great petition guilty of misdemeanor, and 
ten of them were imprisoned. Three hundred Puritan 
preachers were expelled from their livings for failing to 
obey the rules at which their consciences rebelled. 
The measures against the "Independents" — those ex- 
treme Puritans who, despairing of reform within the 
church, had left it altogether- drove some of them out 
of the country. They took refuge in Holland. Among 

Baptists. them the earliest baptist churches were gathered, and 

other fugitives under Brewster and Robinson from the 
village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire became the 

Fathers 8 ""™ Pilgrim Fathers of New England. 

A new translation of the bible, "the King James's 

King James's version," was authorized bv the Hampton Court Con- 
Bible, IOII. ... , . • , l 

terence and published m ion. 

i The king was very outspoken in favor of the Tudor system of church 
government. "A Scottish Presbyterj agreeth as well with monarchy as God 
and the devil," he declared in tins conf< i ence, i emembei ins how the ( !enei al 
Assembly dominated his paternal kingdom of Scotland, ro the suggestion 
that it would be difficult to bring the Puritans back to the High Church tni 
he flew into a rage and broke up the conference, saj tng, " 1 will make them 
( onfoi m, or 1 will harry them out of the land." 

s The first "authorized" version o( the English Bible was the so-called 
"Great Bible" ol 1539. Its price, a I unit feo ol our money, limited its circula- 
tion, though it was placed in most of the parish churches. In 1560 certain 
1 nglish scholars who had taken refuge at Geneva from the Marian persecu- 
tions brought out a small quarto revision of the Great Bible. It was printed 
in plain Roman, instead of black-letter; it was divided into chapters and 
verses; it had a running marginal commentary ol a Puritan savor, and it was 
both handy and cheap. This "Geneva" 01 "Breeches Bible" (the word 
"breeches" is used foi "aprons" in Gen. iii.: 7) became the family Bible of 
1 ngland. To displace it the "Bishop's Bible" in folio (1568) and quarto 
\\ as brought out, but was never populai . King James's \ ersion was the 
woi k ol a commission composed ol the most learned men of both universities, 
and the Puritans and lliyli Church party were equally represented. I'he 
kim: hoped that it would prove a unifying bond in the church. It was 
populai from the first and has proved a bond ol union for the entire English- 
speaking 1 aee. 



alter and Roundhead. 210, 

The firsl Parliament of the reign assembled in March, 
[604, and its sessions marked the beginning of a new 
era. The dearest dogma of this theorizing monarch 
was " the divine right of the king to rule." He denied ^j" 6 ^ 1 
that the people were the source of law and of kingly 
power. His authority, he declared, was from heaven, 
and his prerogative was above the law, which he might of 
his own will alter as the welfare of his people required. 

A resolute spirit of independence was evident in the 
first Parliament of James. He asked it to sanction a 

e union of England and Scotland, which had now Fi«tParlia- 

merit. 

.ite governments under the same king. This they 

refuser 1, and the king, in turn, slighted their wish to 

concede the Puritan demands for reform. The first 

• .n of Parliament closed fruitlessly. The session of 

1605 narrowly missed a tragic opening, 

James had promised to relieve the Catholics of the 

heaviest -burdens with which Elizabeth's reign had 

weighted them, but his ear soon caught whispers of 

Catholic plots against him and he broke his promises. 

Robert Catesby and a few desperate papists planned to 

blow up the Parliament buildings on the day of the ioint Gunpowder 

. , . Plot, 1605. 

assembly of the two Houses to hear the king's opening 

speech. Gunpowder was placed in a vault under the 

House of Cords and all was in readiness to massacre 

king, princes, lords, and commons at a blow. Guy 

Fawkes was the agent of the conspirators. November 5 Guy Fawkes. 

was the day for the king to meet the two Houses ; but 
the secret transpired at the last moment. 1 Eawkes, 

1 Fawkes was a native <>f York, well born, and brought up among Catholics. 
His personal reputation was that of mildness, temperance, and fidelity to his 
1 of his associates he seems to have entered upon this 
atrocious work with a cleai conscience, believing that In was doing God's 
will in clearing the way f"i th tion of "heretic" England to the 

bosom oi Holy < hurch. The plol leaked out when an anon mous Jetter 
warned one of the Catholic lord, to from the Parliament on open- 

ing day. Nearly all tin were put t>> di ath, '1 he fesuits 

seriously implicated in the business, and ( .inn' 1, th'' hi ."l of the order in Eng 
land, \\; in it. 



22o Twenty Centuries of English History 



Revenue. 



" Impositions. 



The "Great 
Contract." 



The "Addled 
Parliament." 



arrested among his powder kegs, was executed with 
others, and November 5, the anniversary of the " Gun- 
powder Treason," was long celebrated by English 
Protestants with songs and festive processions. 

The question of crown revenues, for which Eliza- 
beth's thrift had found ready solution, kept her suc- 
cessor in continual trouble. His expensive household, 
his pensions, and his foreign diplomacy used up vast 
sums. The only lawful way by which an English king 
might raise money was by taxation voted by the repre- 
sentatives of the people in Parliament. James had 
found Parliament a two-edged sword, which he feared 
to handle. Without asking its consent he accordingly 
laid a tax on certain imported articles. One Rate, an 
importer of currants, refused to pay, and was tried 
before the Court of Exchequer. The judges gave the 
startling opinion that the king, as regulator of com- 
merce and foreign affairs, might lawfully lay and collect 
such customs duties without consent of Parliament. 

This invaded the rights of Parliament. In 1610 
James offered to relinquish certain feudal claims of the 
crown, in return for an annual grant of money. But 
the haggling over this "Great Contract" disgusted 
both parties, and the king dissolved Parliament, hoping 
to pay his way by means of the hated "impositions." 
But the way was hard, and after footing it for three 
years he summoned a second Parliament in 16 14. The 
Commons refused to grant a farthing until the king 
should redress their grievances by renouncing the impo- 
sitions and purifying the church. After the deadlock 
had lasted a month James ordered the Commons to go 
home, whereupon the "Addled Parliament" dissolved 
without enacting a single law. Among the partici- 
pants in that stormy session were John Eliot and 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



221 



Robert Carr. 



Bin kingham. 



Thomas Wentworth, memorable names in the history 

of the constitutional struggle of the following reign. 

Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, and son of that Bur- 
leigh who had given Elizabeth a life of faithful service, Roberi 

was the first adviser of the king, and the only real 
minister that James tolerated. After Cecil's death 
James cultivated court favorites in the- place of serious 
counselors. The first was a page, one Robert Carr, a 
young Scot, who had neither ability nor character. 
James made him his companion and private secretary, 
loaded him with wealth and honors which ruined him. 
Young George Villiers, better known by his later title, 
Duke of Buckingham, next gained the royal favor. 
The king entrusted to him the distribution of offii i 
and peerages, and his purse was soon stuffed with 
enormous bribes. "Steenie," as the king called Buck- 
ingham, was a handsome, genial fellow, with fine taste 
for art and very poor for virtue. To Prince Charles, 
heir-apparent to the crown, the favorite attached him- 
self, even more closely than to the father. 

Meanwhile James followed his own will in the admin- 
istration of the realm. His plantation of Ulster 1 in 
the north of Ireland, with Scottish and Irish families, 
was accomplished at great expense. The question of 
revenue was variously met. The "impositions" prov- 
ing insufficient, a "benevolence" was asked, but only 
a small sum resulted. " Baronets," a new order of 
nobility, were created, and patents of this new rank 
and seats in the House of Lords were sold for cash. 
The effort of the king to interfere with the proceedings 
of the law-courts wa d by the chief-justice, Sir 

i The i I the Catholic Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, together-with 

other lands the choicest in the six counties of Ulster- ■ ated 

i in all). Apartofl were granted to English and 

h undertake! , who agreed to people them with Protestant tenants from 
(j . g , , ["he native d eptions turned out of their 

homes, with their hearts burning against the Protestant intruder. 



Baronets. 



Official 
corruption 



Coke and 
Bacon. 



222 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

Edward Coke, and that great lawyer was dismissed 
from the bench (1616). 1 The lawless extortions of the 
crown were imitated by the officials of the court. Buck- 
ingham lived upon bribes. Judges received no salaries, 
and a premium was thus placed upon official corruption. 
In 1621 Francis Bacon himself, "the wisest, brightest, 
meanest of mankind," the chancellor of the realm, was 
impeached by the House of Commons for taking bribes. 
He acknowledged that he had received money from 
suitors, but denied that such payments had influenced 
his decisions. 

The Parliament which condemned Bacon was called 
for a very different purpose — one which brings the 

affairs'" student to the perverse foreign policy of the Stuart 

kings. Elizabeth's reign had shown that England was 
the natural leader of Protestant Europe against Spain, 
the champion of papistry. The first armed conflict of 
the two religions had settled this. France and the 
Netherlands had furnished the battle-ground for that 
struggle. After a generation a fresh outbreak was im- 
minent, and Germany was to be the field. 

England was Protestant, but the wilful king believed 

A Spanish t ] iat an alliance with Spain would restrain both countries 

marriage. l 

from the war and insure a European peace. To con- 
firm the amity of the two naturally distrustful nations 
he proposed (1617) that Prince Charles should wed 
Isabella, the Spanish infanta. The prince's sister Eliza- 
beth had married Frederick, the Elector Palatine, the 

1 Coke was the greatest lawyer of his time, and a man of sturdy independ- 
ence. The offense which called down the king's displeasure was much to his 
credit. James had commanded the judges to delay judgment in a certain 
case until he had seen them personally. The chief-justice obtained their 
signatures to a paper declaring such an interference illegal. The king called 
them before him and lectured them on his "prerogative" until they fell on 
their knees to sue for pardon. Coke, however, protested that their action was 
proper, and when asked whether in the future he would delay a case at the 
king's order he would only say that "he would do what became a judge." 
For this " disrespect " he was dismissed from all his offices. He was after- 
ward a member of Parliament and a champion of free speech. 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



223 



Death of 
Raleigh. 



leader of the German Protestants. James thought the 
best way to protect her and her children was to ally 
himself to Spain, the leading Catholic state. To this 
design he sacrificed Sir Walter Raleigh, 1 whose ex- 
ploits in America made him odious to Spain. 

The negotiation of the Spanish marriage proceeded 
slowly. The English denounced it, and Spain stipu- 
lated that the English Catholics should henceforth be 
unmolested in their worship. The parleyings were 
disturbed by the clash of arms in Germany. Bohemia 
called King James's son-in-law Frederick to its throne, 
expelling King Ferdinand, the Catholic relative of the 
Spanish king. This revolt opened the Thirty Years' Thirty Years' 
War (1618-1648). Frederick maintained his position 
only a few months. The Catholic League drove him 
from Bohemia, and the Spaniards occupied his home 
dominions in the Palatinate (1620). 

A small force of English volunteers set out to aid the 
Elector, with the permission of James, and in 1621 the 
third Parliament of the reign was summoned to grant 
supplies for a war in Germany. When the Commons 
found that the king wanted cash, but would give no 
definite plan of war, their ardor cooled. They voted a 
meager sum, but pledged themselves to aid the king 
with their fortunes and their lives if he would adopt a 

1 Raleigh was a representative Englishman of Elizabeth's reign. Leaving 
Oxford a mere youth he served as a soldier in several lands and learned 
navigation. The queen took him into favor and enriched him with offices 
and monopolies. His restless energy led him into unsuccessful attempts to 
colonize America, of which the name " Virginia " is the only memorial — if we 
except the potato and tobacco, which he brought to the knowledge of Euro- 
peans. None surpassed him in loyalty and energy in the "Armada year" 
and to him are attributed the tactics which dispersed the " invincible fleet." 
From that time he was the uncompromising (<>e of Spain, and James, who 
wished to maintain friendly relations with the Catholic powers, had no use for 
him. He was condemned to death for some wild utterance (1603), but the 
sentence was commuted to imprisonment in the Tower. In 1616 he was 
released on parole that he might accompany an expedition to Guiana — the 
El Dorado of the Spaniards— in quest of gold. No gold was found, but a 
Spanish village was taken and burnt, and on his return Raleigh was re- 
committed to the Tower and in 1618 executed on the sentence passed fifteen 
years before. This as a favor to Spain. 



224 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

war policy in earnest. Still he temporized with Spain, 
and while the last shreds of his son-in-law's power were 
being seized by the Catholics he still swam about the 
tempting bait of the Spanish marriage. 

When a committee of Parliament asked the king to 
The Protes- declare war on Spain the monarch was furious. ' ' Bring 
stools for these ambassadors," he cried, when the com- 
moners made known their errand, and he bade them 
meddle no more with affairs of state. To this the 
House entered its Protestation, solemnly and prayer- 
fully declaring "that the liberties of Parliament are the 
ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the 
subjects of England, and that the arduous and urgent 
affairs concerning the king, state and defense of the 
realm, and of the Church of England, and the making 
and maintenance of laws and redress of grievances 
are proper subjects of debate in Parliament." 
With his own hand the king tore the Protestation from 
the journal of the House, and sent the members to 
their homes. 

The shameful quiescence of England in the presence 

The failure of of the suffering German Protestant states at length 
the Spanish & ...... 

match. aroused James to a final effort to vindicate his foreign 

policy. In 1623 Buckingham and Prince Charles set 
out together for Madrid to bring about the marriage 
which had been delayed so long. They were sump- 
tuously entertained at Madrid, but every obstacle was 
placed in the way of the match. The infanta was 
averse to a "heretic" husband, and the Spanish king 
and the pope devised all manner of iron-clad oaths 
to compel King James to reopen the way for the resto- 
ration of England to Catholicism. Charles promised 
everything ; still the marriage was delayed. Thwarted 
in his design to brine the infanta to England as his 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 225 

bride, the humiliated prince returned in 1624 and broke 
off the engagement. 

James despaired of the Spanish alliance and sum- 
moned a fourth Parliament (1624) to prepare for war Fourth Par- 
with Spain in defense of his daughter Elizabeth. But 
the Commons were wary of the king's purposes and 
chary of supplies ; they made a small appropriation 
and then rested to study the movements of the king. 
His heart was fixed upon marrying his son to a princess 
who should secure to England a Catholic ally on the 
Continent. By Buckingham's advice he selected the 
Princess Henrietta Maria of France, and agreed to a 
marriage treaty which granted substantial liberties to 
English Catholics. With such an unpopular deed to 
answer for it was folly to ask Parliament for money. 
Buckingham undertook to open hostilities without an 
appropriation, but disease carried off the troops which 
he sent to the Continent. 

In the midst of these disasters James died, March 27, 
1625, leaving his son to face the rising storm of resist- 
ance to tyranny. 

Charles I. immediately succeeded his father. Courtly 
presence, pleasing address, dignity of manner, serious Charles 1., 
mind, and cultivated tastes combined to recommend 
him. In his household, as in society, Charles was a 
polished gentleman, but in his theory of kingly power 
he was a tyrant. The principles of absolute authority 
in which James had believed were inherited by the son, 
and pressed with a persistency which led to war, de- 
thronement, and death. 

Charles's hatred of Spain and zeal for his sister 
Elizabeth promised that England should soon resume 
her place among the Protestant nations. Parliament 
was asked to appropriate sums for the prosecution of 



226 



Twenty Centuries of English History 



Protestant 
and Catholic. 



Struggle with 
Parliament. 



the war for the recovery of the Palatinate. But a fevi 
months had altered the temper of the nation. Two 
months before (May, 1625) the king had married the 

French princess, 
Henrietta Maria. It 
was suspected that 
the marriage was a 
prelude to a milder 
attitude of the gov- 
ernment toward the 
English Catholics. 
Until the monarch 
s h on hi declare his 
intentions in this 
regard the Com- 
mons would not 
satisfy his demands. 
They voted him one 

sixth of the desired 

Charles 1. 1 . 1 

amount ; but the 

tonnage and poundage duties, heretofore granted for 

tin- lifetime of the sovereign, were assigned to Charles 

for one year only. This Parliament was dissolved two 

months after its first meeting. 

Before a year had passed a second obstinate Parliament 
had met and been sent home (February to June, 1(126). 
The Commons were intractable. Led by Sir John 
Eliot ' they defied the king's claims to absolute power. 
When he cast Idiot and Digges into prison their col 

1 Eliot had in-; eyes early opened to the corruption of the government, 
when in 1633 as vice-admiral ol Devon ho succeeded in capturing the notori- 
ous pirate Nutt, rhe pirate's gold properly placed among the highest 
officials gained ins release, while Eliot himself was Imprisoned for foui 
inoiiihs. His vigor, spirit, and dauntless courage made him the leader <>t the 
Commons in then attacks on the favorite, Buckingham, ami it was for .1 bold 
speech comparing tin- favorite t>> Sejanus, the false favoriteol the Emperoi 
riberius, that he was sent to the fowei In i fhe more he was singled 

•.'in foi the king's shafts the more popular he became. 




c avalier and Roundhead. 



227 



Leagues refused to transact business until the members 
were released. They would even have impeached Buck- 
ingham had not the king - put an end to the session. 

Two years had passed ; two Parliaments had come and 
gone without iilling the royal purse. The half-hearted 
war with Spain was a total failure. To conciliate the 
Protestants, the king now broke the pledges of Catholic 
toleration by which he had bound himself to France. 

Cardinal Richelieu was the French statesman who 
directed the policy of Louis XIII. Late in 1626 war 
broke out between the two countries. Tin; independent 
Huguenot seaport of Rochelle — "proud city of the 
waters" — was besieged by the French, and Bucking- 
ham's expedition for its relief (1627) ended in inglori- 
ous defeat. "Since 
England was England 
it had not received so 
dishonorable a blow." 

The king had 
secured the money 
for the war by a 
" forced loan." Men 
who refused to con- 
tribute were impris- 
oned without trial. 
Among them was 
John Hampden, a 
country squire, who 
-aid he did not begrudge the money, but he dared not 
incur the curse of Magna Charta by disobedience of its 
rules. Five of the prisoners asked for trial on a writ of 
habeas corpus, but the servile judges buttressed the 
royal power by declaring that it was for the king to say 
whether or not men should be tried. This decision 




John Hampden. 



Richelieu. 



Rochelle. 



John Hamp- 
den. 



228 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Wentworth. 



Cromwell. 



Petition o( 
Right. 



violated another provision of the Great Charter. One 
after another the hard-won liberties of centuries were 
being extinguished. 

The third Parliament of this reign met in March, 
1628. Sir John Eliot, according to whose theory the 
king was the servant of Parliament, was its uncompro- 
mising leader. Sir Thomas Wentworth, keen and 
practical, but of aristocratic bias, stood with Eliot. In 
the rank and file of the House were John Hampden, 
John Pym, Denzil Holies, and another country squire, a 
cousin of the "stiff-necked" Hampden — Oliver Crom- 
well, a Puritan of the straitest sect. 

Such earnest men did not wait for another to open the 
subject which was uppermost in all minds. With zealous 
care they drew up a "Petition of Right," reciting the 
hitherto acknowledged liberties of the kingdom and the 
divers manners in which they had been trampled upon 
by the House of Stuarts. Four especially odious acts 
were specified : the laying of taxes without consent of 
Parliament, the billeting of troops upon private families, 
the employment of martial law in time of peace, and the 
imprisonment of citizens without specified accusation. 
Charles was reluctant to accept this document which 
proposed to curtail his authority, but he was in sad 
financial straits and his fawning judges told him how to 
nullify the parliamentary proposals. With extensive 
mental reservations he set his signature to the bill, and 
was rewarded with an abundant subsidy. 

The Commons followed up their victory by another 
assault upon the favorite. 1 " We will perish together," 

1 When the Commons proposed to rid the nation of the baneful influence of the 
unscrupulous Buckingham by bringing him to trial on charges, the king warned 
them " tli.it he would" not tolerate any aspersions upon his ministers. When 
Eliot would have spoken, the speaker, acting under the king's orders, declared 
him out of 01 der. Amid :\ deadly stillness " the champion of fi eedom sat down 
and Imrst into teais. The silence was soon broken by the voices o( Prynne, 
Coke, and others, urging the rights of the nation in defiance <■>( the tyrant. 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 229 

said King- Charles. But Buckingham fell first. He 
was at Portsmouth, superintending the embarkation of of S Bu S ck?n t ''ham 
the forces with which he hoped to retrieve his fortunes 
at Rochelle, when John Felton, a disappointed lieu- 
tenant, spurred by motives of revenge and patriotism, 
stabbed him to the heart. 

While Parliament was training its guns on the throne 
for its unlawful taxes and its High Church sympathies, 
the king did his best to control its deliberations. The 
speaker, Finch, had precise orders from him which 
motions to entertain and when to adjourn. The Com- 
mons were justly indignant. They took counsel over 
Sunday what to do. On Monday, March 2, 1629, they 
met, with their minds made up. The speaker had the 
king's command to adjourn forthwith, but the House 
would not adjourn. When Finch would have left the 
chair young Holies and another held him in his seat, 
swearing, " He shall sit there till it please the House to 
rise." The doors were hastily barred and Eliot moved, 
amid the assenting shouts of the Commons, three reso- 
lutions, stating plainly that whoever introduced new 
religious opinions or services, whoever advised the levy 
of unparliamentary taxes, and whoever voluntarily paid 
such taxes, was an enemy of England. A few days 
later (March 10) this Parliament was dissolved. Sir 
John Eliot, Holies, and other actors in that famous 
scene were arrested ; when Eliot died of consumption members. 
in the Tower (1632) the spiteful king refused his body 
to his mourning family for burial. 

King Charles concluded that much unpleasantness 
might be avoided by having no more Parliaments in 
which these impudent Puritans meddled with affairs of 
church and state. Three men were his main reliance in 

The king's 

the period of personal government which now opened : men. 



230 § its A Hist 

Wentworth, Laud, and Weston. Sir Thomas Wont- 
worth. Idiot's former colleague, had gone over to the 
king. He was president of the Council of the North. 
which administered the government of the northern 

counties and in civil matters was a loyal and faithful 
Laud. counselor. William Land, a churchman of the narrow- 

est type, was bishop of London. Within his diocese 
he allowed no deviation from the established rules, and 
when (1633) his elevation to the archbishopric of 
Canterbury made all England his parish he enforced the 
laws of conformity mercilessly against the Puritans. 
Weston. Weston, the lord treasurer, was less conspicuous, 

though it was his financial ability, the fertility and 
audacity of his invention which furnished the means by 
which the unparliamentary rule was supported. To 
save expense he persuaded his master to make peace 
with both France and Spain ^ n\;> 
■ rhorough." "Thorough" was Wentworth' s name for his system 

of administration. A definite purpose--- to achieve 
good government by strengthening the power of the 
king— ruled all his movements, and in Land he found 
a willing and efficient coadjutor. Together they set 
about the administration of church and state in such 
high-handed fashion that, between tax-gatherers and 

clergy, the Puritans had no peace. In 1629 the Massa- 
Massachusetts , i-> ^ 1 , . . f 

BayCoiony. cnusetts bay Lolony was chartered by a company 01 

Englishmen in quest of religions liberty.' They founded 
Salem and Loston in New England. The tide of emi- 
gration ebbed and flowed in sympathy with the rigor or 
relaxation of Wentworth and Land, but it never 
entirely ceased, and within a dozen years from the issue 

1 In August, 1629, twelve leading Puritan gentlemen met at Cambridge Rnd 
laid plans for establishing a Puritan colony in Now England. In Apri 
their first expedil 01 Massachusetts Bay and before the end of the 

seventeen shiploads ol emigrants had been despatched thither. By the 
yeai ;i the settlers numbered .: ■ 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 231 



of 'the charter 20,000 English Puritans It -ft the mother ... ,, 

o I he Puritan 

country for the New England wilderness. exodus. 

The problem of raising revenue was most immediate 
and puzzling. The illegal tonnage and poundage cus- 
toms furnished a portion ; extensive monopolies of 

Ways and 
Commodities fed another financial rill ; landholders mean 

were knighted and made to pay well for the enforced 
honor; obsolete feudal lines and dues to the crown 
were revived and collected; Catholics were mulcted for 
staying away from the national church. The king's 
court of Star Chamber, which had no jury, was the 
treasurer's instrument of oppression in these matters. 

The need of a licet to protect commerce put a new 
idea into the heads of the ci'oun officers. An ancient 
usage of commanding the maritime counties to furnish 
ships for the navy was revived and worked so well that 
in [636 the inland counties also were ordered to pay a 
new tax, "ship-money," to be used in furnishing forth 
the fleet. Servile judges upheld the levy and the 
government thought that deliverance from its hardships 
had dawned at last. If this tax were lawful why be 
vexed by another Parliament ? John Hampden, the com- 
moner of Buckinghamshire, comprehended the impor- Prosecution 
■ • 1 11 1 1 1 °' Hampden 

tance 01 the principle and almost alone took stand 

against it. lie was not a poor man, hut he would not 
pay the twenty shillings of ship-money which the royal 
commissioners levied on him (1637). Try him they 
mighl and convict, him they did I [638), hut not until 
the nation had gained courage from the example oi one 
plain citizen who had not howed his neck to the 
scepter. Hampden was applauded; his slavish judges 
were reviled. But the new shackles which the ship- 
money decision pi, iced upon English freemen increased 
the numbers who longed for rest from tyranny. A 



Ship-monej , 



2^,2 Twenty Centuries of English History 



Laud's per- 
secution-.. 



Prynne's " His- 
triomastix." 



royal prohibition was required to chock the emigration 
to New England. 

What the Star Chamber Court was to the civil gov- 
ernment the Court of High Commission was to Arch- 
bishop Laud. Outward conformity to the church laws 
was his aim, and in attaining it he was as thorough as 
Strafford could wish. For the numerous body of 
thoughtful Puritan Englishmen whoso conscience re- 
belled at the copes, the robes, the crossings, bowings, 
and kneelings of the church service Laud had neither 
sympathy nor mercy. With absolute intolerance he 

drove Puritan min- 
isters from their 
pulpits, forced the 
established worship 
upon unwilling con- 
gregations, making- 
it even more out- 
rageous to Calvin- 
ists by innovations 
which, in their sen- 
si t i v e nostrils, 
savored of ever- 
dreaded Rome. 
••Or. Alabaster 
I> rea oh e d 11 a t 
popery, ' ' said 
young Mr. Crom- 
well to the Com- 
mons. Not only were non-conformist preachers cast 
out, but laymen suffered for alleged lapses in morals 
and attacks upon the clergy. William Prynne, a bar- 
rister with a caustic quill, had his oars cropped for a 
libelous writing, "Histriomastix," condemning the the- 




Wn.i.iAM Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 233 

ater.' Other men who criticized the church for its loose 
Sabbath-keeping and its tendency toward papistry stood 

in the pillory, or sat in the stocks, while the common 
people stood by pitying. 

In 1636 King Charles gave Archbishop Laud permis- 
sion to carry his measures of reform across the border, Laud and kirk. 
and bring the Scottish Kirk into uniformity with the 
Church of England. The kirk had been modeled by 
John Knox and his fellow Calvinists upon strict Presby- 
terian principles, and the General Assembly was the 
most powerful organization in the northern kingdom. 2 
Little wonder that James was charmed by contrast with 
the subservience of the English bishops to him as " the 
head of the church." 

He upheld the Church of England against the Puri- 
tans for fear that Puritanism would lead to Presby- 

~i . . ,. ft- Presbyterian 

teriamsm. I he bishops were a mam reliance of his bishops, 
theory of absolute power, and in [6lO he forced upon 
the Scottish Kirk an anomalous system, bishops being 
appointed to preside in the Presbyterian synods. James 
had a wholesome fear of his canny countrymen, and he 
rejected baud's early schemes to complete the reorgan- 
ization of the Scottish Kirk. " lie does not know the 
stomach of that people," was his comment on the 
bishop's plan for " thorough " reform. Charles Stuart 
knew less of the Scottish " dourness " or he would have 
been satisfied with his father's progress. He let Laud 
place the full control of the kirk in the hands of the 

1 Prynne worked seven years collecting materials for this book, which 
showed that all actors, playwrights, and theater-goers were " sinful, heathen- 
ish, lewd, and ungodly. He reserved his choicest denunciation foi WOmi n 
a 1 lots, which brought the om-en and her private theatrii als into the alfair. ll 
was for this covert attack upon the queen that he suffered mutilation. 

- " I tell you, sir," one of the preachers, Andrew Melville, had said tojarm , 
"there are two kings an d two kingdoms in Scotland. There is Christ Jesus 
the King and his kingdom the kirk, whose subject James VI. is, and oi whuv 
kingdom not a king, nor a lotd, nor a head, but a member. And they whom 
Christ hath called to watch over his kirk and govern his spiritual kingdom 
have sufficient power and authority so to do." 



234 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Jenny Geddes. 



The Covenant 
of 1638. 



bishops, and force upon the Presbyterian preachers a 
liturgy based upon the English prayer-book. The 
Scots stopped their ears rather than listen to the new 
service. Jenny Geddes, a market woman, cried out, 
"Villain, dost thou say mass at my lug?" and threw 
her stool at the head of the dean who read service in 
St. Giles's Kirk, Edinburgh (July 23, 1637), an d at the 
bishop who thought to quell the tumult the riotous con- 
gregation yelled ' ' A pape, a pape ! ' ' and ' ' Stane 
him ! " It was impossible to use the new service-book 
there or elsewhere. No " Canterbury pope " for Scot- 
land ! ' 

The king raged, but the Scots organized commit- 
tees — "the Tables" — who, on February 28, 1638, 
signed the Covenant 2 to recover and maintain the purity 
and liberty of the Gospel. To regain his slipping grasp 
upon his ancestral kingdom Charles sent the Marquis of 
Hamilton to Edinburgh with slight concessions. A 
general assembly of the kirk was to be held and the 
service-book withdrawn. The assembly met at Glas- 
gow, November, 1638, but in defiance of Hamilton 
and his master the Scottish bishops were deposed, 



1 When the news of the Scottish uproar reached London, Archbishop Laud 
was met on the way to the council by Archie Armstrong, the king's fool, with 
the question, " Wha's fule now? Doth not your grace hear the news about 
the liturgy?" Laud, who was in no mood for jesting, had Armstrong dis- 
graced and banished from the court, " for certain scandalous words of a high 
nature." Some one who met the sharp-tongued Scot clad in a black coat, and 
inquired what had become of his fool's motley, received this reply: "O, my 
lord of Canterbury hath taken it from me, because either he or some of the 
Scotch bishops may have use for it themselves." 

2 The day of the signing was marked with great solemnity. A solemn fast 
was kept. An impressive sermon was preached in the Grey Friars Church at 
Edinburgh. Then the Covenant, by which their ancestors had declared their 
purpose to preserve the reformed church from innovation and prelacy, was 
read. The Earl of London exhorted all to stand firm for God and Scotland. 
Rev. Alexander Henderson offered prayer. Then the noblemen signed the 
parchment and took the oath to defend the Covenant to the last. The other 
classes pressed forward to the table and the great sheet was soon crowded 
with signatures. The throngs in the churchyard and throughout the city- 
were filled with rapturous enthusiasm over the new birth of the nation. Simi- 
lar scenes were repeated throughout the kingdom. Thousands wept as they 
signed ; some wrote their names in their own blood. 



Cavalier and Rotcndhead. 235 

and the whole Presbyterian system was reestablished. 1 
The overthrow of the royal and episcopal authority 
in Scotland was a serious reverse for the policy of 
Thorough. With John Hampden's resistance before The Bishops' 
them, and the Scots' example of stiffneckedness, the 
English Puritans might rise against the king — Parlia- 
ment or no Parliament. Obviously the only consistent 
course for Charles and his archbishop was to reduce 
the Scots to submission. Money was scraped together 
in odd ways for the first "Bishops' War" (1639). 
The Covenanters rushed to arms. But a peace was 
patched up with little bloodshed by the " Pacification of 
Dunse" 2 ; the Scots, however, refused to modify the 
decision of the Glasgow General Assembly. The king 
knew not what to do next, and Wentworth hastened 
from Ireland to give him counsel. 

Wentworth had been sent to govern Ireland in 1633, 
and had set up in that distracted kingdom the thorough- 
going policy which was his prescription for all political Wentworth in 
ills. With supreme confidence in himself and in his 
own wisdom he decided what would be best for the 
Irish — and the king ; then he went to work to effect 

1 No sooner had Hamilton perceived the uncompromising temper of the 
General Assembly than he declared it dissolved. It thereupon denied his 
jurisdiction, and went about its work " in the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the only head and monarch of his church." Alexander Henderson, its 
moderator, indicated its spirit when he said : " Whatsoever is ours we shall 
render to His Majesty, . . . but for that which is God's and the liberties of 
his house, we do think, neither will His Majesty's piety suffer him to crave, 
neither may we grant them, although he should crave it." When their work 
was done they sang the 133d psalm, and then having set the king at defiance, 
they were dismissed with the benediction and by the moderator's solemn 
words : " We have now cast down the walls of Jericho ; let him that rebuild- 
eth them beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite ! " 

- Baillie, who was a chaplain in the covenanting army, says of their camp at 
Dunse Law : " Every company had flying at the captain's tent-door a brave 
new color stamped with the Scottish arms, and this motto, ' For Christ's 
Crown and Covenant,' in golden letters. . . . Had you lent your ear in 
the morning and especially at even, and heard in the tents the sound of some 
singing psalms, some praying, and some reading the Scriptures, ye would 
have been refreshed." The commander of this wonderful host was an "old 
little crooked soldier," General Leslie, a veteran of the wars of Gustavus 
Adolphus. Against such an array Charles could oppose only a half-paid levy 
of impressed men, disgusted with fighting in such a cause. 



236 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



The Short Par- 
liament, 1640. 



The second 
Bishops' War. 



that result, using indifferently any method — persuasion, 
cajolery, bribery, force — which would bring- him most 
quickly to his destination. Thus he established order 
in Ireland, introduced the culture of flax and the linen 
trade, summoned an Irish Parliament, and with its aid 
maintained a small standing- army. In fact he exhibited 
on a small scale the absolutism to which Charles so 
fondly aspired. 

Wentworth's advice was to summon Parliament. Let- 
ters had been intercepted which showed that Scotland 
and France were ominously drawing together. Possi- 
bly he expected this disclosure to rouse the nation to 
the pitch of voting the money which must be had if 
Scotland were not to be lost. 

Parliament met at Westminster, April 13, 1640, and, 
heedless of the intercepted letters, immediately de- 
manded the redress of grievances as a prelude to the 
passage of the supply bills. "Till the liberties of the 
House and kingdom were cleared they knew not 
whether they had anything to give or no. ' ' Evidently 
nothing was to be done with such adxisers, and on May 
5 the "Short Parliament" was dissolved. 

Spurred on by Wentworth (who had been made 
Earl of Strafford) and Laud, the king renewed hostilities 
with Scotland — the second "Bishops' War" — but his 
untrained soldiers fled from the field at Newburn. The 
army of the Covenanters encamped on English soil, 
prepared to march on to London to extort favorable 
terms of peace. Charles shrank from another conflict 
with the Commons ; the Lords had been less insolent, 
perhaps they would help him now. A council of peers 
was summoned in September, but their only- recom- 
mendation was to call a Parliament. He could do no 
other. The Scottish army was only held off by his 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 237 

promise to pay ,£850 a day until a permanent settle- 
ment should be reached, and without help from Parlia- X he . Sco , tsin 

1 _ England. 

ment he could not raise that amount of money. Writs 
of election were accordingly issued, and Royalist and 
opposition plunged into the contest for members. 

John Hampden, the "ship-money" hero, rode 
through the country with John Pym, who had grown 
gray in resistance to the Stuart pretensions, arousing 
the people to their opportunity to fling off the tyranny The Long 
of the crown. The crown candidates were beaten 1641-1660. 
everywhere, and the Commons, who met at West- 
minster on the 3d of November, 1640, came with 
resolute purpose not to separate until they had set 
certain bounds to the royal power. Pym and Hamp- 
den were there — the former the leader of the House. 
The silent Cromwell was there from Cambridge town ; 
young Holies, who had held the speaker in his great 
chair (and lain in prison for it), was there, with Lucius 
Carey and Edward Hyde, who, in the troublesome 
times ensuing, chose the king's side and quitted Parlia- 
ment, the one to become Lord Falkland and perish in 
the civil wars, the other to figure as Lord Clarendon and 
write a ponderous Royalist history of what he termed 
the "Rebellion." This was the famous — or, if you 
will, infamous — "Long Parliament," which through 
many vicissitudes and adjournments, purgings, and 
restorations, existed until March 16, 1660, twenty years 
lacking eight months. 

All that Charles asked of Parliament was to furnish 
money to pay the Scottish army its ^850 a day and ,[ e h e d k a"d' S 
equip an army of Englishmen. But Parliament had a ^^™&t 
longer bill of items against the king. It proposed to 
settle forever the matters of arbitrary imprisonments, 
of unauthorized taxation, and of Laud's ecclesiastical 



238 Twenty Centuries of English History 



Proceedings 

against 

Strafford. 



Strafford's 
execution, 1641. 



The Triennial 
Act. 



innovations. It was in the main Puritan, with an in- 
fusion of extreme Independent members. The porten- 
tous presence of the Covenanters in the North gave 
to Parliament a power over the king which was pushed 
to the utmost extent. The Scots would stay until the 
stipend should be paid. 

The Commons put the thumb-screws on the king. 
On the eighth day of the session they impeached Straf- 
ford of high treason, and a few days later Archbishop 
Laud was imprisoned on the same accusation. In an 
impeachment trial the House of Lords sat as judges. 
Treason was crime against the king and the Lords 
objected to condemning the king's most sincere friend 
on such a charge ; so the accusers hastily changed their 
plans and, relinquishing the trial, pushed a bill of at- 
tainder against Strafford through both Houses. Charles 
wept like a child when the bill which was aimed at the 
life of his faithful supporter ' ' as a public enemy ' ' was 
placed in his hands ; but to save himself he must sign, 
and the great earl, who had trusted in his ability to 
establish the absolute supremacy of his monarch over 
Parliament and nation, was executed on May 12, 1641. 
" Put not your trust in princes," he exclaimed when a 
messenger brought him word that the king had vielded 
to the popular clamor for his head. 1 

The purpose of the Parliament-men was to tie the 
hands of the monarch until they should secure the 
reforms which he had denied. In February, 1641, 
they compelled his assent to the Triennial Act, pro- 
viding that Parliament should meet every three years, 

1 On his way to the block the earl stopped at the cell of his old friend Laud 
and besought the help of his prayers for strength in the last moment, and the 
aged archbishop with sobs and tears bestowed his benediction. On the 
scaffold the prisoner said : "The omen was bad for the intended reformation 
of the state that it commenced with the shedding of blood. ... I thank 
God that I am no way afraid of death nor am daunted with any terrors; but 
do as cheerfully lay down my head at this time as ever I did when going to 
repose ! " He was in his forty-ninth year. 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 239 

whether summoned by the erovvn or not. There were 
to be no more eleven-year periods of personal rule. 
Two months later he consented, under pressure, to an 
enactment that the Parliament then in session should be 
neither adjourned nor dissolved without its own con- 
sent. The day of "addled" and "short" Parliaments 
was over ; the one now in session was both brainy and 
long-lived. Assured of their continuance in power, the 
Commons struck out boldly. Tonnage and poundage 
taxes were condemned, ship-money was pronounced 
unlawful, the courts of Star Chamber and High Com- 
mission, by which the king had been able to cloak his 
tyranny with the robe of the law, were abolished. This Tools of 
work done, the Scots were paid off and peace restored t >' iaun >' broken, 
between the two kingdoms (August, 1641). 

Of its own free will Parliament took an autumnal 
recess of six weeks, leaving a committee of each House 
on guard. Pyin was chairman of the Commons com- 
mittee. His name was first in all that the Commons did ; 
the Royalists, who were much grieved by these doings, 
ridiculed the plain name of the man, and mockingly 
called him "KingPym." Parliament reassembled Oc- "KingPym" 
tober 20, 1 64 1, in a nervous condition. Charles had been 
in Scotland, and had made some bargain, the country 
scarcely knew what, with the great Duke of Argyle. 

In November horrible tidings came from Ireland. 
When Strafford's strong hand was withdrawn, the 
Roman Catholics, infuriated by the loss of their lands 
and by generations of English injustice, rose in savage The Ulster 
insurrection and massacred the Protestant population of 
Ulster — strong men, defenseless women, and helpless 
children. Some believed that the king had caused the 
revolt that he might obtain from Parliament an army. 
With an army he might perhaps disperse other enemies 



240 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



besides Irish rebels. However, no troops were granted 
to him ; on the contrary, the ('ominous drew up, after 

iii< : "Grand Re- serious debate, a ('■rand Remonstrance — 206 articles 
monstrance." 1 ». • •_ .1 1 r 1 e ,i • t*i 

long— itemizing the unlawful acts <>t the reign. I he 
majority for it was small, and an old story has it that 
Mr. Cromwell was heard to say as he left the hall that "it 
the Remonstrance had not passed he would have sold 

all and gone to New England." This paper, printed 
and read in every English parish, molded opinion in 
support of the Commons against the sovereign. 

The church Organization had been attacked at the 

Spring session, when the ( 'ominous* had made an un- 

rhebishopa successful attempt to oust the bishops from the House 
exi luded from . , , , , • , ,• • ■ 

n. <■ ii, mi, of Lords, where they acted with the Royalist majority. 

In December an unguarded act of the bishops them- 
selves enabled the Commons to imprison them. This 
was followed by a law depriving them oi their seat in 

the upper house. 

January 4, [642, was one of the memorable days of the 
session. The king's patience had given out. Against 

Utempted Lord Kiinbolton and lour commoners, "King" l\ in, 

arrest >>i tin- , . ... 1 . T r 11 1 • 1 

fivemembere. ship -money Hampden, Holies, and .Strode, was 

raised royal accusation of treasonable correspondence 
with Scotland. Charles kissed his queen good In - and 
went to Westminster with five hundred men to arrest 
the five. "The birds were flown " to use his own 
Surprised expression -when he entered the House, and 
their Colleagues deafened the ears of their royal master 

as he retired with cries of "privilege," " privilege, v 
meaning that they considered his act a breach oi their 
privilege ol immunity as legislators.' 

1 When iiu- baffled king was scanning the House in quest ol the offensive 
members he demanded oi thespeakei wnethei anj "t these persons were in 
1 In- house, s.i i>l 1 in- speaker, " l have, sir, neithei <-\ <-s t<> see not tongue to 
spr.ik in this place, but as the House is pleased t,> direct me, whose servant l 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



241 



On the 10th of January Charles quitted his palace of 
Whitehall for the north of England, where he was safer 
than in the Puritan capital. The queen crossed to Hol- 
land to pawn the crown jewels for artillery and small 
arms. Civil war had become inevitable, and each 
party set about strengthening itself. The Royalist 
nlembers of the two Houses, to the number of ninety- 
seven, left their places and joined the king at York. 
Since Parliament could no longer obtain the royal sig- 
nature to its enactments, it decided to do without it. 
"Ordinances" was the name given to these unapproved 
laws. 

On June 2 Nineteen Propositions were submitted 
by the Commons to the king. They required him 
to surrender to Parliament the control of the militia, 
the possession of the forts and arsenals, the refor- 
mation of the church, and the appointment of his 
royal ministers. Upon the rejection of these de- 
mands Parliament assumed control of the militia, made 
the Earl of Essex its chief commander, and selected 
a committee of public safety to undertake the defense. 
Charles raised the royal standard at Nottingham (Au- 
gust 22, 1642). Before the close of the summer the 
rival powers, the king and the Parliament, were in 
arms. 

The fighting of the first year of the civil war went 
against the parliamentary armies. Their soldiers were 
chiefly the peasantry and the city trades-people, while 
the cavalry, the pride of the royal camp, was composed 
of gentlemen of spirit, well armed, well fed, and superbly 
mounted. Prince Rupert, son of James Stuart's daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth of Bohemia, was the dashing leader of 
these Cavaliers, and he made short work of the "round- 
head " train-bands, as the short-haired Puritans were 



Charles leaves 
London. 



" Ordinances. 



The Nineteen 
Propositions. 



Beginning of 
civil war, 1642. 



Character of 
the combatants. 



" Roundheads " 
and "Cava- 
liers." 



\ . I0( ilium-.. 



.• I • Twenty Cenfa English History, 

called by the curled fops of Charles's courl ' The first 
battle, .ii Edgehill, October 23, [642, was indecisive, 
l>tit the Royalists marched "11 London, and only the 
bold fronl of London train-bands kept them out oi 
the city. Neither party ventured upon pitched battles 
the northern, western, and midland counties were stead 
fastly Royalist. The counties oi ih< - South and Eas1 
bound themselves in associations to support the parlia 
mentary cause. Oliver Cromwell, now a colonel oi 
horse, had become a leading spirit in the Eastern A.sso 
« i.ii 1. hi, w In. Ii w .is the best 01 -.1111 sed oi .ill. 

Throughout the second veai oi the war the Royal 
ists gained ground. Something ailed the Parliament's 
troops ; Cromwell told his cousin, Hampden, that they 
were 'prentii es .mil tapsters, sure to inn From the gen 
tlemen who opposed them. II he had his way he would 
1 iu -ci these in rn ol honor with "sober men oi religion." 

',' "'",'' Patriot Hampden fell (Tune, [ 64 O in fight, but Colonel 

Cromwell put Ins theory into practice. Mis own regi 
ment oi horse, "Ironsides," becomes noted lor its 

1 """"''," '■,, religious zeal. The men pray before battle, and nevei 

• ironsides ' ' ' 

retreat " 1'iulv they were nevei beaten .11 .ill,'' said 
theii li-.iilii 

Parliament was not inactive, whatever may be said of 
its .uinit".. ,\n assembly oi Puritan divines, in session 

1 li( Westmln .... 

iei vasembij i>\ u. side al Westminstei since fuly 1, [643, was con 

1 wii. 11 the king md in ■ 1 1 iln i 1 ilti d 1 Ion In [euti the Puritan bystandei ■ 

inglj called the mounted men "cavaliers," and the name stuck to the 
courl part) throughout the troublea ii waa an age ol ureal extravagance In 
.h , \\ 1 1, 11 Bui 1. 1 in-. 1 1.1 in went to Pari ■ In i - , hi had twentj aeveu Bull ■ oi 
i lothea made, one ol w hli ii waa white uni ut velvet, '.>-i all ovei « iiii .li tmonda 

valued il m. bealdea i ureal plume encrusted with diamonds rhe 

Puritans testified theh eon tempi ol the world bj opposing Its fashions rhe 
men wore pi iln i oil u i md i ufla In ite id ol al iri neo rufls and rails ol lai e and 
lawn 1 hi 11 1 lothlng w ta aobei hued Rnd plain "i i ut, theli ii..-..- bla< i. 
[onaoti 1 il ol them aa ha> Ing 

" Rellgl iii. 11 'ii menta and theh hall 

1 mi .in. 1 iii ill. in [hell ej ebrow ■■." 

in. 1 ol iii. 1 11 iii. 1 lovi locks the savage Prynneapoko as "that bush of vanit) 
whi rebj the de\ I! le id i ind holda nun . api 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



243 



Alliance with 



sidering the reform of the church ; the bishops had 
joined the king, and affairs ecclesiastical were in utter 
confusion. To Scotland Pym turned for example and 
aid. In return for military assistance against the king, 
Parliament promised to take the Covenant by which the 
Scots had established their own kirk. On September 
25, 1643, 25 peers and 288 of the commons signed the Scotland. 
''Solemn 
League and 
Cov enant," 
binding the 
governm cut 
to make the 
religion of 
the three 
k i n g d o m s 
uniform in 
faith and wor- 
ship. Two 
thousa nd 
Church of 
E n g 1 a n d 
clergy m en 
left their pul- 
pits rather 
than accept 
theCovenant 
vv h i c h w a s 

now offered everywhere as a test of loyalty to the I'm 
liament. An executive committee of Scottish and Eng- 
lish was charged with the conduct of the war. This 
union drove the king to an alliance with the red-handed 
Irish rebels. 

The death of Pym in December saddened but could DeathofPyi 




244 Twenty Centuries of English History 



Marston Moor, 



Rising of 
Montrose. 



not dismay his party. In January Leslie, with the 
Scots army, forded the Tweed. Fairfax and Waller 
scattered the Irish contingent before it could succor the 
king. Toward night-fall on the 2d of July, 1644, Prince 
Rupert, whose brilliant and rapid movements had thus 
far made him the most notable Royalist figure in the 
war, attacked the allies on Marston Moor, in Yorkshire. 
The Scotch quailed before the fury of his charge, but 
Cromwell's steadfast Ironsides outmarched the Cavaliers 
and chased them from the field. ' ' God made them as 
stubble to our swords," said their commander, whom 
this victory placed in the front rank of the parlia- 
mentary forces. The north of England, with York and 
Newcastle, surrendered to the parliamentary leaders. 
In the South, however, the Royalists still had the best 
of the struggle. 

In the fall and winter the Royalists of the Scottish 
Highlands, led by the Marquis of Montrose and aided 
by a contingent from Ireland, harried, burned, and 
slaughtered in the Lowlands, in the vain hope of re- 
calling Leslie's army from England. In October 
Charles again marched on London, but was repulsed at 
Newbury. Cromwell thought that mere repulse was 
not enough ; such an army as he would construct would 
have made short work .of the king. He justly com- 
plained to Parliament that the generals were "afraid to 
conquer." The majority of Parliament wished to force 
Charles to resume the throne and govern as a Presby- 
terian sovereign, under proper checks and limitations. 
They did not wish to kill him, or "to beat him too 
badly.'' For these half-way measures Cromwell had 
no use. He proposed a sweeping military reform, a 
new-modeling of the whole army on the Ironside plan. 

The withdrawal of the Royalists and the acceptance 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 



245 



of the Covenant had left Parliament almost unanimously- 
Presbyterian. Archbishop Laud had been executed for ten^e^ab/ish" d 
treason (January, 1645), and the Church of England 
liturgy had been replaced by a simpler service like that 
of the Scottish Kirk. The Westminster Assembly of 
Divines was drawing up a creed, a liturgy, and a system 
of church government for English Presbyterians. In 
April, 1645, Presbyterianism was by law established, 
and it was the purpose of Parliament to enforce con- 
formity by measures as stringent as those of Laud him- 
self. 

Cromwell's plans of military reform were adopted in 
April, 1645. By a " self-denying ordinance " all mem- 
bers of Parliament — except Cromwell, who was now 
deemed indispensable— were removed from military 
command. Sir Thomas Fairfax succeeded Essex as 
captain-general, with Colonel Cromwell next in com- 
mand. ' The entire force was reorganized on the plans 
of the famous regiment of horse. "Honest men of 
religion, whose heart was in the cause," were its com- 
missioned officers, whether they were draymen, butch- 
ers, or gentlemen of family and fortune. So far as 
possible the same principles were carried into the rank 
and file, and when the "New Model," as the force , „ 

The New 

was called, took the field, the king's gay Cavaliers Model, 
faced the most remarkable military body that had ever 



Cromwell re- 
forms the army. 



1 " The parliamentary forces had been made up of (i) volunteer regiments 
raised by popular leaders, (2) the train-bands of London, (3) the militia of 
the county associations, (4) the local militia raised at time of need, (5) irregu- 
lar bands recruited by zealous individuals by authority of Parliament. The 
New Model introduced permanence and regularity by disbanding the volun- 
teers and county levies and reorganizing them into new regiments, newly 
officered and paid by Parliament. The officers, chiefly earnest men of 
religion, soon impressed their own spirit upon the men. They preached and 
prayed to their troops and even went up into church pulpits and preached to 
the people. The fine for swearing amounted to nearly half a day's pay. A 
drunken soldier forfeited a week's wages. The orders of at least one colonel 
punished severely any one found idly standing or walking in the street in 
sermon time, or playing at any games upon the Sabbath or fast day." (Con- 
densed from C. Oman.) 



246 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Naseby, June 
14, 1645. 



Philiphungli. 



End of the war. 



Parliament vs. 
New Model. 



The king in the 
Scots camp. 



been mustered in England. Prayer-meetings, psalm- 
singings, sermons, and exhortations were the avo- 
cations of these warriors. 

While the New Model was mustering and drilling, 
and the Parliament wavered between war and peace, 
the Royalists caught glimpses of success. They saw 
their enemies divided and considered the army a rabble 
of raw recruits under inexperienced officers. Montrose 
wrote from Scotland that he should soon be able to 
send reinforcements. In February, 1645, the king 
had obstinately refused to come to terms with Parlia- 
ment ; in June he took the offensive and attacked the 
New Model at Naseby. Cromwell commanded the 
cavalry. Officers and soldiers no longer feared to con- 
quer. The raw troops routed the king's men, captured 
camp, royal papers, artillery, and two thirds of the army. 

The civil war was over. The defeat of Montrose at 
Philiphaugh, September 13, destroyed the Royalist 
party in Scotland, and on March 26, 1646, the soldiers 
of Parliament won the last battle at Stow. ' 

The defeat of the Royalists left two parties in the 
kingdom — Parliament and the New Model — i. <?., the 
extraordinary body of earnest men who made up the 
army. The former was bent upon forcing Presbyterian- 
ism upon the nation. The latter, in which the Inde- 
pendents were influential, demanded that the. toleration 
of all Protestant sects should form part of any settle- 
ment which should be made with the king. In May, 
1646, Charles gave himself up to the Scottish army, 
which was still encamped in the North. He did not 
realize that he was conquered, but believed that the 



1 Sir Jacob Astley, who commanded the Royalists at Stow, sat on a drum- 
head after the battle and grimly said to his captors, " Gentlemen, you may 

now sit down and play, for you have done all your work, if you fall not out 
among yourselves." 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 247 



dissensions of his enemies would yet make his triumph 
possible. The agreement which Parliament asked him 
to sign restored him to the throne, but placed the 
militia under the command of Parliament for twenty years 
and sanctioned Presbyterianism. This suited neither the 
king nor the various sects in the army, who desired tol- 
eration for creeds outside the Established Church. For 
the sum of /\ioo,ooo the Scots surrendered Charles to The Scots de- 

^°^ liver Charles to 

Parliament and marched home (February, 1647). Parliament. 

Feeling between the New Model and the Presby- 
terians grew more intense. The party of the Inde- 
pendents in Parliament had gained strength by new 
elections to fill the seats of absent Royalists. The 
army, which was determined to secure the religious 
liberties for which it had fought, defied the order of 
Parliament to disband. Cromwell, accused of inciting 

mutiny, fled from the wrath of the Commons to the 

t -i 11 c i* ne arm y 

camp. Cornet Joyce, with a detachment of the New seizes the king. 

Model, seized the ill-guarded king at Holmby House 
(June, 1647). All parties were now negotiating with 
Charles, and his sense of his own importance was 
inordinately increased. He heard them all, pretended 
to favor each, but was sincere with none. On Novem- 
ber 11, 1647, he escaped to the Isle of Wight, where he 
signed a secret treaty with Scotland. The Scots were Charles, 
rabidly Presbyterian, and resolute to force the same 
system upon England, in spite of the liberal ideas of the 
New Model. Charles promised to aid them in return 
for armed assistance. In May, 1648, the kingdom was 
again at war. The Royalists rose in half the counties ; Renewal of 
the Presbyterians in Parliament vehemently opposed 
the Cromwellian army, 1 and a Scottish force prepared 

1 The army, democratic to the core, held a mass-meeting and resolved "to 
go out and fight against those potent enemies, . . . and then to call 
Charles Stuart— that man of blood — to account for the blood he had shed." 



war. 



_'|S Twenty Centuries of English History. 



to invade England. Cromwell put down the Royalist 
revolt, and Parliament, having declared the Independ- 
ents of the army heretical and blasphemous, reopened 
its treaties with Charles. The Scotch invasion under 
the Duke of Hamilton was met and hurled bark by 
Preston Pans Cromwell in a three days' fight at Preston Pans, 
August 17—19, 1648. Fairfax reduced the South to 
submission. The army again seized the king, and giv 
ing up all idea of compromise marched upon London. 
Having determined with prayerful deliberation what 
,. course to pursue, Cromwell, now supreme in the New 

1 1. unwell > * 

supreme. Model, stopped at nothing. On the sixth and seventh 

days of December, [648, the Commons, on entering 
their hall, hail to pass hv Colonel Pride, whose soldiers 
arrested those members whom he pointed out. " Pride's 
Purge" cost Parliament its Presbyterian maiority. The 

" Pride s ° ' . 

Purge," 1648. remnant "the Rump" its enemies called it sonic 

sixty Independent members, continued to act as Parlia- 
ment, executing the will of the council of officers which 
Cromwell directed. A special tribunal of one hundred 
and thirty-five persons — the High Court of Justice — 
was set up to try the charges brought against the king. 
The Lords declining to participate, the Commons de 
clared themselves the sole legislature of the realm. 
• Men shrank from the impending act. Barely half the 
commissioners attended the trial. Charles made no 
defense beyond denying the court's jurisdiction. But 
the court w.is satisfied of its authority. Sentence of 
death was passed upon him January 2~ , as "tyrant, 
traitor, murderer, and public enemy," ami m\ the 30th 

Execution of Charles Stuart was beheaded at Whitehall. Upon the 
< h.ii les 1., ' 

l6 49- Commons' order it was proclaimed in every English 

town "that whosoever shall proclaim a new king, 
Charles Second or any other, without authority of 



Cavalier and Roundhead. 249 



Parliament, in this nation of England, shall he a traitor 
and suffer death." 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY 
Willi LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The Gunpowder Plot. 

What Was Gunpowder Plot? S. R. Gardiner. 

2. Archbishop Laud and the Scottish Church. 

History of Scotland. J. II. Burton. 
History of England, [603 [642. S. R.Gardiner. 
Sketches of Scottish Church History. T. McCrie. 
William Laud. W. H. Hutton. 

3. Tin-; Puritan Exodus to America. 

The Beginnings of New England. J. Fiske. 
The Genesis of the United Slates. A. Brown. 

4. The Stuarts' Struggle for Prerogative. 

History of the Great Civil War. S. R. Gardiner. 
Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Edited 
by Carl vie. 

Fiction, Etc. 
John Inglesant. J. H. Shorthouse. 
The Fortunes <>f Nigel. Scott. 

The- Maiden and Married Life of Mary Lowell. Anne Man 

ning. 
King and Commons. (Cavalier and Puritan Song. ) Edited 

by J. 1 1. Lriswell. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Commonwealth and the Restoration, 1649 

A. D.-1685 A. D. — From the Execution 

of Charles I. to the Death 

of Charles II. 



The Common- 
wealth, 1649- 
1660. 



Prince Charles 
in Holland. 



Cromwell in 
Ireland, 1649. 



The Commons House of the Long Parliament, bereft 
of its Royalist members, purged of its Presbyterians, 
and by its own act freed from the House of Lords, 
remained at the death of Charles I. (January, 1649) the 
poor representative of constitutional government. This 
"Rump" established a Council of State. England 
was proclaimed a Commonwealth and Free State, and 
monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished — 
forever, as it was supposed. 

The new government was beset with dangers, and 
forced to depend upon Cromwell for protection against 
its enemies at home and abroad. Charles Stuart, the 
son of the late king, had found a refuge at The Hague, 
where his sister was the wife of the reigning stadt- 
holder. In the eyes of many Englishmen he was their 
rightful and defrauded sovereign. The Marquis of 
Ormond invited him to Ireland, and in August, 1649, 
Cromwell was sent thither to punish the Royalists and 
restore order. He stormed Drogheda and Wexford 
and put their garrisons to the sword. "I am per- 
suaded," so he reported these massacres to Parliament, 
" that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these 
barbarous wretches . . . and that it will tend to 



The Commonwealth and the Restoration. 



25* 



The Crom- 
wellian settle- 
ments. 



Cromwell in 

Scotland, 1650. 



prevent the effusion of blood for the future." "Order" 
was insured by planting colonies of Scotch and Eng- 
lish upon the confiscated lands of the Royalists. 1 

Cromwell's next service was in Scotland, where 
Charles Stuart had . -:. -z:: .-■-... 

landed and taken the 
Covenant to rule as 
Presbyterian king. 
The army of Parlia- 
ment was outmaneu- 
vered, and might 
have been lost had 
not the over-confi- 
dence of the Scots 
thrown away their 
advantage. At dawn 
of September 3, 1650, 
as the enemy de- 
scended from the 
heights of Dunbar the 
Puritan army, chant- 
ing a psalm of David, 
fell upon them and smote them hip and thigh. Edin- 
burgh and Glasgow surrendered ; but while Cromwell 
was busy settling the North Charles II. dashed over the 
border into England, with the parliamentary forces in 
hot pursuit. On the anniversary of Dunbar the king's 

army was routed at Worcester and the fugitive Stuart Worcester, 

1651. 

1 Three provinces, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, were swept clean of their 
landed proprietors, who were ordered to settle upon waste lands beyond the 
Shannon. Their estates were bestowed upon Cromwell's soldiers and upon 
the corporations and capitalists who had advanced the money for the expe- 
dition. The "plantations" were accompanied by gnat hardship. Some 
resisted eviction and were either slain or retired to the mountains, where 
they lived as outlaws and brigands. Widows and orphans were sold into 
slavery in the West Indies. The Irish Royalist army took refug 




Dunbar, 1650. 



Oliver Cromwkll. 



Continent, where the "Irish exiles 
Catholic kings. 



.„ & e on the 
did valiant service in the armies of 



252 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

barely escaped with his life' "It is for aught I know 
a crowning mercy," wrote Cromwell to Parliament con- 
cerning the Worcester fight, and its anniversary, Sep- 
tember 3, he Fondly called his " fortunate claw" 
The great soldier and popular hero had now become 

Rumpand a n object of (head to the Parliament. The army de- 
al my at mills. ' J 

manded the election of a Parliament which should 
represent the people, and when the Rump would have 
passed a bill intended to perpetuate its own control, 
Cromwell entered the hall with a file of soldiers (April 

First dissolu- 20, i(>s;)and drove the members from their chamber. 
lion .'i the ' 

Long Pariia The Council ol State lell by the same blow. 

mrnl, [653. . . 

A plan for a Parliament was devised by Cromwell 

and the army. Some one hundred ami si\tv Puritan 
gentlemen conspicuous lor the godliness ol their walk 
and conversation were summoned by name to this 
"Little Parliament," better known as "Barebone's 
Parliament," from the odd name of one Praise-God 

Barebone's Harebone '"' who sat in it. These men of religion turned 

Parliament, ... . ' 

out to he whimsical and incapable of government. 
"Overturn, overturn," was their whole policy, Crom- 
well complained. This short-lived assembly named a 
commission which drew up a written constitution or 
"Instrument of Government." Cromwell was to be 
chief magistrate with the title of "Lord Protector," 
Oliver, Lord and the power of legislation and taxation was vested in 

Protector, . . . . ., 

a parliament ol one House, to be chosen tnennially. 
The Lord Protector brought to a happy end the naval 

1 Though Parliament offered .1 reward "i ["1,000 foi the apprehension of 
'• Charles Stuart, son >>t the late tyrant," the monej was never claimed. 
Such was the loyalty of the Royalists i<> their hereditary sovereign that 
though si\ w<vUs passed before he could escape from tin- island, ami his 
secret became known to fiftj persons of all ranks in society.no one betrayed 
him. 

- rhe Bible was the only household book of the Puritans. Their conversa- 
tion was larded with Scripture phrases, and the old restament was ransacked 
to supply names t>>i then sons and daughters, rhe emigrants carried the 
same splril and practice t«> New England, See "Curiosities >•! Puritan 
Nomenclature," Bardsta . 



The Commonwealth and the Restoration. 253 



war 1 which the Rump had begun with Holland, 2 but 
the parliamentary apparatus failed to work and after 
five months of turbulence Oliver dissolved it in disgust. 
Unconstitutional as it was, the strong and just rule of 
Cromwell brought glory to England. The great days 
of Elizabeth seemed to return. Scotland became Brilliant 

foreign policy. 

orderly and at rest. Ireland, scourged into submission, 
received thousands of thrifty colonists. The exploits of 
Blake and his fellow-admirals recalled the deeds of 
Drake and Howard. The hero of the Dutch wars chas- 
tised the Barbary pirates ; Venables and Penn captured 
Jamaica from the Spaniards ; the persecuted Vaudois 
Protestants found safety in the protection of England/ 1 
England ranged herself with France for war with Spain 
(1656-1659). The battle of the Dunes, 4 in June, 1658, 
gave the town of Dunkirk in the Spanish Netherlands 
to England — some recompense for Mary Tudor' s loss of 
Calais. 

To govern restive England was a more exacting 

1 From the beginning of the century the English and Dutch East India 
Companies had been hot rivals for the spice trade, frequently coming to blows 
in the East Indies. The English Navigation Act practically excluded the 
Dutch from trading with England or the English colonies in America. 
Further disputes concerned fishing rights in the Channel and finally the 
refusal of Dutch admirals to salute the English men-of-war in the English 
seas resulted in war. 

2 For want of trustworthy admirals Parliament assigned the command of 
the fleet to Robert Blake and two other military officers as " Admirals and 
Generals-at-Sea." This Dutch war is notable in British naval history (i) for 
the first employment of a " marine " corps of landsmen on board ship; (2) 
for the first distribution of medals to naval officers; (3) for the use of the 
type of vessel afterward famous as the "frigate"; and (4) for the introduc- 
tion of the maneuver of breaking through a hostile line and engaging it from 
windward. — Clowes. By the terms of peace the Dutch agreed that their 
ships, merchantmen, and men-of-war alike " meeting any of the ships of war 
of the English commonwealth in the British seas, shall strike their flags and 
lower their topsails " according to ancient right and custom. 

3 The Duke of Savoy was harrying the Vaudois with fire and sword. 
Cromwell made it a condition of his alliance with France that this religious 
massacre should be stopped. And it was stopped. The Protector himself 
subscribed ^"2,000 for the relief of the sufferers. It was on this occasion that 
Milton, the Latin secretary of the Commonwealth, wrote the impassioned 
sonnet beginning 

" Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints." 

4 In the battle of the Dunes the allied French and English fought the 
Spaniards, among whom were many English Royalists, including the Dukes 
of Vork and Gloucester, the younger sons of Charles I. 



254 Twenty Centuries of English Hisioiy. 

business than to defeat the Dutch in the Channel or 
the Spanish on the high seas. Royalist risings were 
frequent and only the overpowering might of that 
splendidly disciplined army kept the peace. After 
Penruddock's rising, in March, 1655, the Protector 
, r . , divided the island into ten military districts, each com- 

The ten - ' 

major-generals, manded by a major-general at the head of an armed 
force supported by tithes upon the property of Royal- 
ists. In November, 1655, the Protector Mas obliged to 
modify his policy of toleration.' The friends of the 
king were commonly the friends of the old church. 
Accordingly Cromwell forbade public services of the 
Anglican Church and the use of the prayer-book. 
Priests were banished from the island. Quakers, Ana 
baptists, and other new sects were put under restraint — 
not because of their intolerable religious opinions, but 
because men of those opinions were lor royalism, or 
against the established order of the Commonwealth. 

In September, 1656, the Protector summoned a 
second Parliament, still indulging the hope that a stable 
constitutional government might be established. Papists 
and Royalist "malignants" were ineligible for member- 
ship, and nearly one fourth of the successful candidates 
were rejected by the Protector's council because of their 
violent opinions. The House, even after these purg- 
ings, could not let the constitution alone. Its "Petition 

Advice°" and an< ^ Adviee " recommended the adoption of certain of 
the ancient forms of government— a parliament of two 
houses and the title of king. Cromwell rejected the title 
but accepted the principal recommendations, though 

1 One of its features had been the return of the Jews, 365 years after their 
expulsion. The "Judaic Spirit" of the Puritans is supposed to have led to 
their recall. Cromwell himself said, "Great is my sympathy with this pool 
people whom God chose, and to whom he gave the law." The Spanish ami 
Portuguese Hebrews who seized the opportunity to settle in London did 
much to further the commercial interests of the city, which was the rising 
rival of the Hutch markets. 



The Commonwealth and the Restoration. 255 

some of the stanch republicans were shocked by the 
royal pomp with which he renewed his oath as Pro- 
tector in Westminster Hall CJune 26, 1657) — the purple 
robe, the gilded Bible, and the scepter of gold. 

The Parliament of 1658 met with a house of peers, 
sixty-three members, of whom only six had sat in the Disputes in 

J J Parliament. 

House of Lords. The wranglings of the session ex- 
hausted Oliver's patience within a fortnight. "I can 
say in the presence of God," he declared before them, 
' ' I would have been glad to have lived under my wood- 
side, to have kept a flock of sheep, rather than under- 




St. Paul's Cathedral. 

taken such a government. But, undertaking it, I did 
look that you, who offered it to me, should make it 
good." After charging them with postponing the 
settlement he so desired he concluded, " If this be the 

. . The Protector 

end of your sitting, I do dissolve this Parliament, and dissolves 

, . , Parliament, 

let God be judge between you and me ! February, 165s. 

This was his last recorded speech. The cares of 
state and the death of a dearly beloved daughter had 



General Monk. 



256 Tkventy Centuries of English History. 

.shattered his sturdy constitution, and in the end of 

August, [658, it became apparent that his end was 

i», -,tii of nigh. On his "fortunate day," the anniversary of his 

Septembers, victories at Dunbar and Worcester, the Puritan hero 
was dead. 

Oliver's .son, Richard, was peaceably inaugurated as 

Richard I'loteetor, hut his weak hand could not govern the 

1658-1659.' storm tossed .ship of state. Powerless to control the 

headstrong leaders of the army he retired from office in 
April, 1059. The constitution was overturned and 
the Rump of the Long Parliament reinstated at West- 
minster. 

While confusion reigned at London the military 
leaders in the North were taking measures to bring 
back the Stuart king. General Monk supported by 
many Scots marched on London. The Rump received 
again (February 26, 1660) the Presbyterian members, 

Endo( Long of whom Colonel Pride had purged it, and on March 16 

Parliament. decreed its own dissolution. 

On the 14th of April, 1660, Charles Stuart, who was 

Returnoj hi correspondence with Monk, issued the Declaration 

Charles stuart. () f Breda, offering pardon to his English enemies, 
sennit)' of property, and toleration of peaceable re- 
ligious sects. The newly elected "Convention Parlia- 
ment," which nut on April 25, enthusiastically voted to 
restore the ancient constitution and urged Charles to 
resume his father's crown. In May the royal exile 
landed at Dover, and the Londoners welcomed him 

1 " I'lu- devil is fetching home the soul ol the tyrant," tin- Royalists 
whispered when the September gale roared about tin- palace, but the Pro- 
tector's dying prayei breathed no bitterness: " Lord, tnou hast made me, 
though very unworthy, a mean instrument t<« do them some good, and thee 
sei vice; and many ol them have set.too high a value upon me, though others 
wish and would be glad ol my death. Lord, however thou do dispose of me, 
continue t>> k" "" i" do good to them. . . . Teach those who look too 
much on thy instruments, to depend more upon thyself. Pardon such as 
desire to trample upon the dusf'oi a pooi worm, foi they ate thy people t>»>. 
Ami pardon the folly of this short prayer, even for Christ's sake. And give us 
a good night ii it be thy pleasure. Amen." 



The Commonwealth and the Restoration. 257 

with glad acclaims. 1 The Commonwealth, which had 
cost so much to establish, fell without a blow. 

Charles II. was a Stuart of a new type, witty — " He 
never said a foolish thing," said Rochester — and profli- J^lllfi 1 '' 
gate — "and never did a wise one," ran the equivocal 
quip.' He was handsome, gay, pleasure-loving, and 
his court became a nest of intrigue and vice. To re- 
buke the so-called "hypocrisy" of the strait-laced 
Puritan regime society flaunted its immorality. Of real 
religion the king had none, but his mother was a 
Catholic, as was his brother James, Duke of York. 
Thus it was a cynic, a libertine, and a skeptic, who 
succeeded the God-fearing Oliver. For the theory of 
government for which his grandfather argued and his 
father lost his head Charles II. cared little. He had 
experienced enough hardship already to curb his greed 
for absolute power. Whatever might happen, to use 
his own careless phrase, he was "resolved to go no 
more on his travels. 

In the first enthusiasm of the Restoration the Con- 
vention Parliament was as subservient as Stuart heart The Royalist 

reaction. 

could wish. The judges who had condemned Charles 
I. to the block were excepted from the general am- 
nesty and were cruelly hunted as far as the arm of 
the law could reach. '' The bodies of Cromwell and 
others were dug up and gibbeted at Tyburn. A fixed 

1 Charles was delighted with his reception but perhaps not entirely de- 

el by the flattery. He said, " I doubt not it has been my own fault I was 
absent so long, for I see no one who does not protest In- has ever wished for 
my return." 

2 The witty monarch lightly parried the thrust by the explanation that " his 
discourse was his own, but bis actions were bis ministers'." 

3 Of these "regicides" were Cromwell's cousin, Lieutetiant-General Ed- 
ward Whalley, and Major-General William Gofl'e, who were hunted like wild 
beasts through the forests of Massachusetts and Connecticut by the kind's 
detectives. Pastor Davenport of New Haven defied the king in exhorting 
his flock to protect these fugitives, " Christ's witnesses," and the king took 
vengeance by taking away the colony charter. Hawthorne's story of " The 
Grey Champion" makes effective use of the tradition which connects the 
regicides with the Connecticut valley. 



258 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Clarendon. 



The Cavalier 
Parliament. 



Legislation 
against non- 
conformity. 



Bunyan and 
Milton. 



annual revenue of ^1,200,000 was assigned to the king-. 

The Earl of Clarendon, who was for seven years the 
chief adviser of the young - king, as he had been of his 
unfortunate father, labored to undo the work of the 
Commonwealth. The Irish and Scottish members no 
longer sat in Parliament at Westminster. The Scottish 
Church was humbled by the reestablishment of episco- 
pacy. For reliance against such an emergency as that 
which had found his father so ill prepared, the king 
maintained in his own pay a few regiments of picked 
troops as the nucleus of a standing army. 

The "Cavalier" Parliament of 1661 was strong for 
church and king. By its order the Solemn League 
and Covenant, the pledge of Presbyterian rule, was 
burned by the common hangman, and a series of enact- 
ments were aimed at the Presbyterian interest, still 
powerful in the large towns. The Corporation Act 
restricted town offices to persons who should take the 
Anglican communion, renounce the Covenant, and 
admit the wickedness of resisting the monarch. The 
Act of Uniformity forced all churches to use the prayer- 
book, required all teachers to assent to its doctrines, 
and reserved to the bishops the right to ordain min- 
isters. The enforcement of this law (on St. Bartholo- 
mew's Day, 1662) drove two thousand non-conformist 
preachers from their pulpits. Two years later these 
dissenters were followed up by the Conventicle Act, 
forbidding religious gatherings at which the prayer- 
book was not used. In 1665 the Five Mile Act ex- 
cluded from their former parishes those non-conforming 
preachers who refused the oath that they would ' ' en- 
deavor no alteration of church or state." It was in 
these years of persecution that John Bunyan, Baptist 
exhorter, wrote in jail his immortal allegory, and John 



The Commonwealth and the Restoration. 259 

Milton, the blind scholar, composed the great Puritan 
epic. 

Clarendon carried these harsh measures in the face of 
two elements of opposition, the Catholics, who enjoyed }'' "" e x a ''l' 
the thinly veiled favor of the king, and the Presby- 
terians. The championship of the Catholic religion 
and of absolute authority had passed from Spain to 
France. Under Richelieu 
and Mazarin the French 
monarchy had acquired 
unprecedented power, 
and the ambition of the 
young king, Louis XIV., 
was boundless". His 
cousin, the king of Eng- 
land, fell easily under 
Louis's influence. It was 
agreed that Charles 
should have the support 
of France in restoring 
England to the bosom of 
the Church of Rome. John MlLTON " 

The first step was the marriage of Charles to a Catholic 
princess of Portugal, 1 and the sale of Cromwell's trophy 
Dunkirk 2 to France for ^400,000. An outburst of pop 
ular indignation checked further progress for the time. 

From 1665 to 1667 England and Holland, the com- 
mercial rivals, were again at war. The inefficiency of War wjth 
the government reduced the navy to such a condition |^" a ,'^' 
that the Dutch fleet dashed up the Thames unopposed 

1 The city of Bombay, the first acquisition of England in India, was a part of 
the rich dowry of this princess. 

2 Dunkirk was a fortress of the first importance, the Gibraltar of that age. 
It was popularly believed that the king's adviser Clarendon had been bribed 

to consent to the transfer, and his new mansion was significantly nicknamed 
" Dunkirk House." 




26o 



Twenty Centuries of English History, 



The fire and 
plague. 



The" Cabal ": 

CI i fiord, 

Arlington, 

Buckingham, 

Ashley, 

Lauderdale. 



Secret treaty 
of Dover, 1670. 



The Test Act. 



and destroyed docks and shipping. Men sighed for 
the good old times when Oliver had made England the 
terror of her foes. In the midst of the Dutch war 
London met with twin disasters. In April, 1665, the 
populous city of 350,000 souls was swept of one third of 
its population by a plague. Close upon its heels came 
the Great Fire ' which broke out on Sunday morning, 
September 2, 1666, and burned unchecked for three 
days, destroying property valued at ^50,000,000. 

The reverses of the Dutch war and the harsh ecclesi- 
astical laws made Clarendon unpopular. In 1667 
Charles was glad to rid himself of the great minister. 
The cabinet which succeeded him is known as the 
"Cabal" from the initials of its members. 

Their envoy, Sir William Temple, touched a popular 
chord by negotiating with Holland and Sweden the 
" Triple Alliance " (January, 166S), a Protestant check 
to the designs of Louis. Meanwhile the perfidious 
Charles was secretly bargaining with Louis for an 
annual subsidy, pledging the support of England to the 
Catholic cause. When in 1672 the king involved Eng- 
land in Louis's war with Holland the eyes of the nation 
were unsealed. The outcry against popery took form 
in the Test Act, which drove the Duke of York and 
other Catholics from their military and civil offices. 2 
The Cabal fell to pieces, but Ashley, now Earl of 
Shaftesbury, continued to fight in the House of Lords 
for a Protestant succession to the throne. Danby, the 

1 An area of 436 acres was burned over, including 13,200 dwellings, the 
cathedral, and eighty-nine parish churches, and many famous mansions, 
schools, and hospitals. The burnt district was half a mile wide and a mile 
and a half long, in the most densely populated region of the metropolis. Sir 
Christopher Wren and John Evelyn proposed plans for systematic and 
regular rebuilding of the city, but the ancient lanes and streets were not 
disturbed. Brick and stone took the place of the ancient timbered houses. 

2 The disabilities of Catholics were not removed until 1S29, when the efforts 
of Daniel O'Connell, tlie lusli "Liberator," secured the passage of the 
Catholic Relief Bill, admitting Roman Catholics to seats in Parliament. 



The Commonweal tli and the Restoration. 261 

next minister (1673-1679), strove vainly to maintain 
an alliance with Holland, but the king remained faithful 
to his paymaster, Louis. In September, 1678, a 
"Popish Plot" to kill the king and massacre the j',£°P, ish 
Protestants came to light. The informer was one Titus 
Oates, a wretched renegade on whose perjured testi- 
mony many innocent persons were condemned. The 
very existence of the conspiracy has been doubted, but 
Shaftesbury utilized the popular frenzy to advance his 
policy. Catholics were disqualified for membership in 
Parliament. Danby fell under suspicion of connection 
with the king's French negotiations and Shaftesbury 
again came into power. The question of the succession 
would not down. Charles and his court rallied about 
the claims of the Catholic Duke of York, brother of the 
king. Shaftesbury put forward the Duke of Mon- The Protestant 
mouth, the eldest of the king's natural sons. The duke - 
terms "Tory" and "Whig" originated in the bitter 
partisan strife of this time. 1 Thrice the king dissolved ■< Tor>\" a ' 
Parliament to frustrate its designs against his brother. 
Shaftesbury was disgraced and died a fugitive, without 
seeing the accomplishment of his ends. In 1683 the 
discovery of the ' ' Rye House Plot, ' ' against Charles 
and James, brought some of the leading Whigs to the p^. 
block, though Monmouth himself escaped to Holland. 
To cripple his enemies the king annulled the ancient 
charters of the towns — the Whig strongholds — assuring 
the return of members of Parliament devoted to the 
crown. Death intervened in his preparations for des- 
potism (February 6, 1685). To the courtiers at his 
bedside the flippant Stuart made his playful apology for 

1 The rough-riding Scottish peasants who had opposed the king's High 
Church policy in Scotland were first called " Whigamores," or "Whigs," 
and in return they gave to the partisans of the crown the derisive epithet of 
"Tory," a name originally applied to Irish outlaws, too handy with the 
Bhillelah against the Protestant colonists. 



262 Twenty Centuries of English History 



being so lon^ time a-dying, and his last breath was a 
Chadsii P" ea ^ or tnr P ret ty actress who had enjoyed his favor, 

" ,N > " Do not let poor Nelly starve ! " 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. OliverCromwell. 

( Hiver Cromwell. S. H. Church. 

Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Carlyle. 

Oliver Cromwell. F. Harrison. ( English Statesmen 

Series.) 
The Chief Actors in the Puritan Revolution. P. 

Bayne. 

2. Manners and Morals under the Restoration. 

Samuel Pepys and the World lie Lived In. Wheatley. 
The Court of Charles II. J. J. Jusserand. 
The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn. 
The Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys. 

3. The Protestant Plantations in Ireland. 

The Story of Ireland. Emily Lawless. 
History of Ireland. Joyce. 

The Cromwellian Settlement in Ireland. Prender- 
gast. 

4. Scotland under Cromwell and Charles II. 

History of Scotland. J. II. Burton. 

History of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. 

Gardiner. 
Montrose. M. Morris. 

Fiction, Etc. 

Woodstock, Old Mortality, and Peveril of the Peak. Scott. 

St. George and St. Michael. George Macdonald. 

The History of the Plague in London. Defoe. 

Dryden's Poems. (The Hind and the Panther, Absalom 
and Achitophel, Annus Mirabilis.) 

Deborah's Diary. Miss Manning. 

Cherry and Violet. A Tale of the Great Plague. Miss 
Manning. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Era of the Protestant Revolution, 1685 

A. D.-1714 A. D. — From the Accession 

of James II. to the Death of Anne. 

JAMES II. was past fifty when he succeeded to the 
throne of his brother. Though a Catholic himself, his . m . s ,, 
daughters had been reared in the Protestant faith. The l68 5-'688. 
gentle Mary was the wife of the prudent ruler of Hol- 
land, William of Orange, and her sister Anne had 
married a Danish prince. The king's second marriage 
with the Catholic Mary of Modena was thus far child- 
less. 

The apprehension which pervaded the nation upon 
the accession of a Catholic sovereign was soothed by 
several circumstances. 1 James swore to maintain the 
Church of England unchanged, and it was believed that 
he would keep his oath, remembering the loyalty of . 

the church to his father. Should he prove faithless the patience, 
patient nation looked to his Protestant daughters to set 
all things right after a few years at the most. The 
harrying of the Presbyterians was bitterly pressed. 
The Scottish Parliament of 168 5 made it a treasonable _ 

^ Persecutions 

offense to take the oath of the Covenant, and death of the 

Covenanters. 

and forfeiture were made the penalty of preaching in a 
private room, or attending an open-air meeting or 

) The Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, who, like the Catholics, 
had suffered foi their fai f h under the Commonwealth and the Restoration, 
took heart at the accession of James. Their address to him Said :" We are 
told that thou art not of the pei suasion of the Church of England no more 
than we; wherefore we hope thou wilt grant us the same liberty which thou 
allowest thyself. Whi< h doing, we wish thee all manner of happiness." 

263 



264 Twenty Centuries of English History 



Claverhousc. 



Execution of 
Ai gyle, June 3 
1685. 



Monmouth's 
rebellion. 



conventicle. The zealous dragoon officer John Graham 
of Claverhouse was the detested instrument of the per- 
secution. 

Parliament, thanks to the precautions of the late 
king, was strongly Tory, and registered James's will 

in everything. But 
the Whig exiles at 
The Hague plotted 
incessantly. 

The Duke of 
Argyle crossed over 
to Scotland and 
called his country- 
men to overthrow 
the persecuting Par- 
1 i a m e n t and the 
bishops. But the 
country failed to rise 
and Argyle was 
taken and executed. 
At the same time 
Monmouth, the 
hope of the Protes- 
tants in the previous reign, landed in the west of England 
with eighty followers and asserted his claim to the throne. 
The powerful Whigs kept aloof and Monmouth's army 
of rustics was dispersed by the royal troops at Sedge- 
moor, July 6, 1685, the last battle fought in England. 
The Protestant duke perished on the scaffold. ' Colonel 

1 On the scaffold Monmouth, who had lost heart since his capture, played 
the man. He exhorted the headsman, Jack Ketch, to use his best skill, 
giving him gold with the promise of more if he should do his work well. 
Then having doubtfully tried the edge of the axe be laid bis head on the 
block. The executioner was unnerved and missed bis first stroke ; the duke 
raised his head and cast a reproachful look upon him. The axe fell again 
and again without mortal effect and the throng of witnesses were frantic 
with horror and sympathy when the end came. Many of them rushed for- 
ward ami dipped their handkerchief in the blood of the Protestant champion. 




James II. 



Tlii 1 Era of the Protestant Revolution. 2d- 



Kirke's wanton and bloodthirsty dragoons, " Kirke's 

Lambs," had granted no quarter to the fugitives, but 

the king's vengeance was not appeased. He sent 

Jeffreys, the most brutal of judges, to try the rebels in . _ 

the West.' In this "Bloody Assize" three hundred The Bloody 

persons were condemned to execution and many more 

sold into slavery. 

Such cruc-lty cooled the ardor of Parliament. Fur- 
thermore the king's relations with the Jesuits exposed 
him to suspicion. Louis XIV., his friend and mentor, 
by revoking the Edict of Nantes had exposed the 
French Protestants to persecution/ Thus warned, the The second 

„..,,,. -it > i 1 c 1 Stuart tyranny 

hnghsh Parliament resisted James s demand tor the 
repeal of the Test Act (which excluded Catholics from 
office). Supported by troops in his own pay and by 
servile judges, the king undertook to govern without 
recourse to Parliament. The new despotism made rapid 
strides. The king claimed the right to dispense with 
obnoxious laws, and the courts approved his action in 
disregard of the Test Act. The church took alarm 
and the king provided a new Court of Ecclesiastical 
Commission to enforce the silence and submission of 
the clergy/' 

In April, 1687, the king issued a "Declaration of 

1 One ofjeffreys's victims was Mrs. Gaunt, who had piously harbored a 
fugitive. To save his own neck lie hasely informed against his benefactress, 
whom Jeffreys sent to be burned at the stake. Lady Lisle, the widow of one of 
the murdered regicides, was put on trial for sheltering two fugitives from 
Sedgemoor. Her plea that she did not know of their guilt, and that so far from 
sympathizing with Monmouth she had sent her own son to light against him, 
could not save her. Jeffreys compelled tin: reluctant jury to condemn her, 
and constrained the king to deny all prayers for her pardon. 

2 The severity of the Catholic monarch against the Huguenots drove tens of 
thousands of sober, hard-working artisans into Holland, England, and 
America. Probably 60,000 came to England, where they established their 
home industries, especially the weaving of brocades and figured silks, velvets, 
etc. 

3 Hall, the king's printer, was licensed to issue Catholic missals and tracts, 
contrary to an act of Parliament. Compton, bishop of London, was called 
before the commission and suspended for refusing to discipline one of his 
clergy who bad been so bold as to preach on the difference between the 
Roman and Anglican Clin: 



266 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Declaration of 
Indulgence, 



rhe Seven 
Bishops. 



Phe bishops' 
acquittal. 



The Seven 
Patriots. 



Liberty of Conscience," granting toleration to all 
religions in England and Scotland, with a view to re- 
moving the disabilities of the Catholics. The next year 
the declaration was repeated. The clergy generally 
disregarded the royal command to read it from their 
pulpits and the seven bishops who presented their sol- 
emn protest against it were sent to the Tower on charge 
of uttering a "false, malicious, and seditious libel. " 

The patient nation was startled by the report that 
the queen had borne a son (June LO, [688), thus 
endangering the succession of the Protestant Princess 
Mary. The Whigs declared that the nation was being 
tricked and that the babe, James Francis Edward 
Stuart, as he was christened, was a spurious child. In 
the midst of the popular excitement the acquittal of the 
seven bishops was hailed with transports of delight 
The cheers from the royal camps at rlounslow smote 
the ear of the king. ' 

All parties were deserting the despot. On the day 
of the bishops' discharge Admiral Herbert bore to 
William of Change,' the husband of the Princess Mary, 
a secret invitation to come over and deliver England 
from her king. Among the seven patriots who signed 
the note all parties were represented. 3 

i Even the guards of the bishops had openly expressed their sympathy tor 
their prisoners. James had been reviewing his tumps on Hounslow heath 
when lie heard the uproar in the camps. " It is nothing," said the com- 
manding officer. " nothing but the rejoicing of the soldiers over the acquittal of 
the bishops." " Do you eall tint nothing F" replied the thwarted monarch. 

» Orange (the name a corruption of the Latiu Arausio) is a principality In 

southeastern Franee. From 1530 to 1713 it was ruled by princes of the House 

of Nassau, the greatest of whom, William the Silent, became a Protestant, 
achieved the independence of the Dutch from Spain, and (1581J was chosen 
hereditary stadtholder of Holland. His grandson William 11., also stadt- 
holder. married Mary Stuait, daughter of Charles 1. ot England. The 
William who now- came upon the stage of English affairs was thus both 
nephew and son-in-law of King James 11. 

: ; I'he seven signers were '• The Whi- Kai 1 of Devonshire, the Tory Karl of 
Danby, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Bishop Compton, of London, the repub- 
lican Henry Sidney, Lord Lumley, of the army, and Edward Russell, of the 
na\ \ ." 



The Era of the Protestant 1\< volution. 267 



William was thirty-eight years of age. His govern- 
ment of Holland had proved his energy and prudence, w r a n ia ,™ of 
while his resistance to the rapacious designs of Louis 
XIV. displayed the vigor and breadth of his statesman- 
ship. In October he issued a declaration to the Eng- 
lish nation setting forth their grievances and announ- 
cing his decision to accept the invitation to come over 
with an army to secure the assembling of a free Parlia- 




BUCKINGIIAM i'ALACh.. 



James makes 



ment. On November 5, 1688 — the anniversary of the 
Gunpowder Plot- — William landed at Torbay with 14,000 
men.' 

Too late James changed his tone and began bidding 
for the support of the church and Tories. But the 
current could not be stemmed. The gentry of the concessions. 
North and West flocked to William's camp. John 
Churchill and his fellow-generals, who had sworn 
fidelity to James, deserted to his enemy, and even 
Kirke led his " lambs" to the Dutch shepherd. Under 

1 William's flag bore the arms of Nassau quartered with those of England, 
and to his family motto, " I will maintain," Ik- added tin- words " the liberties 
of England and 1 1 1 » - Protestant religion." The " Protestant Wind " held the 
royal fleet in the Thames while the Dutch swept past and through the straits 

of Dover in full view of the throngs on the I liflfs of Kent. 



26S 



Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Flight of the 
king. 



William and 
Mary, 1689-1694. 



William, sole 

king, 1694-1702. 



Non-jurors. 



Annual 
budgets. 



the influence of Churchill's wife, Sarah Jennings, the 
Princess Anne abandoned her father's waning cause. 
"God help me," he said, "my own children forsake 
me. ' ' Having sent the queen and her babe to France 
the king himself eluded his willing captors and rejoined 
them (December, 16SS). Louis received him as a 
brother-king and granted him the royal residence of 
St. Germain with revenues suitable to his rank. 

The Parliament of England declared ' ' that it hath 
been found inconsistent with the safety and welfare of 
this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a popish 
prince." The crown was offered to William and 
Mary jointly (February 13, 16S9) and accepted. A 
Declaration of Rights ' was voted, setting forth the 
limitations upon the power of the sovereign. That 
the Stuart dynasty retained a stronghold in some 
hearts appears from the fact that six bishops and 
several hundred rectors were deprived of their livings 
for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the new 
sovereigns. 

The first work of the revolution was to reform the 
administration. The ministry was required to lay be- 
fore Parliament annually an estimate of necessary ex- 
penses, as a basis for specific appropriations. Thus the 
control of expenditure came into the hands of the House 
of Commons. A Mutiny Act settled the vexed question 
of the control of the armed forces. The officers of 



1 This document declared : (i) That it is illegal for the king to make laws 
or suspend their action without consent of Parliament. (2) That the king 
may not grant dispensations from the laws. (3) That the Court of Ecclesias- 
tical Commission and others like it are unlawful. (4) That the king may not 
raise money without the consent of Parliament. (5) That it is lawful to 
petition the sovereign. (6) That no standing army may be maintained with- 
out the consent of Parliament. (7) That private persons may keep arms. 
(8) That parliamentary elections must be free. (9) That parliamentary debate 
must be free. (10) That excessive bail shall never be demanded from an 
accused person. (11) That every trial shall be by jury. (12) That grants of 
estates as forfeited before the conviction of the offender are illegal. (13) That 
Parliament shall be held frequently. 



The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 



269 



the crown were empowered for one year to enforce dis- 
cipline. To secure the annual renewal of this authority 
and the annual appropriation for the payment of the 
forces it became necessary for the sovereign to summon 
Parliament each year. The declaration was enacted as 
the Bill of Rights, which further confirmed the title of Bill of Rights- 
William and Mary and forever barred Roman Catholics 
from the English throne. 

In April, 1689, William and Mary were proclaimed 
at Edinburgh joint sovereigns of the kingdom of Scot- 
land. The Presbyterian government of the Scottish 
Church was revived. Claverhouse, now known as Vis- 




Windsor Castle, East Front. 

count Dundee, rallied the Highland clansmen in the 
name of King James. But he fell in the pass of 
Killiecrankie ' in the moment of victory, and his follow- Dundee at 
ing was dispersed. The pacification of the northern 

1 Wordsworth made this victory of the clansmen over veteran forces the 
text of one of his most spirited appeals against Napoleon. See his sonnet, 
"In the Pass of Killiecrankie." Dundee, whom the harassed Covenanters 
abhorred as a fiend, was revered as a martyr by the Jacobites. For a 
spirited ballad on this romantic character, " the last of the Scots," see 
Aytoun's " Burial March of Dundee." 



Killiecrankie. 



270 Twenty 'Centuries of English History. 

kingdom was stained by the massacre of Glencoe. 1 
In March, 1689, King James passed over from France 

james in he- to Ireland, where the Earl of Tyrconnel had drilled an 

land> army devoted to the Catholic cause. The panic-stricken 

Protestants crowded into the poorly defended towns of 
Londonderry and Enniskillen, and though beset by 
overwhelming numbers held out for more than one 
hundred days, until the relief came. In 1690 William 
invaded Ireland and routed the Jacobite forces in the 

The Bo battle of the Boyne (July 1). James fled to France, 

leaving the brave Patrick Sarsfield to prolong the con- 
test. 2 The next year he, too, had to yield, though he 
gained the privilege for his soldiers to enter the French 

The Irish service. Ten thousand Irish exiles passed into the 

armies of Catholic Europe. 

William's diplomacy had united the emperor, Spain, 

The Grand Sweden, Savoy, with Holland and England in a "Grand 

Alliance. .... ,, . , . . . „ , 

Alliance against the great king of t ranee (1689). 
After two years of indecisive fighting Louis gathered all 
his strength to crush his foes. One army was to invade 
England while a host of 100,000 men threatened Hol- 
land. But the invaders never crossed the straits. 

Battle of the ^ n tne sea anc ^ at tne Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, 

Hogue. Did the English fight the French — woe to France, 3 

1 The Highlanders were given until the end of December, 1691, to take the 
oaths of allegiance to William and Mary. Maclan, chief of the clan Mac- 
donald of Glencoe, waited until the last day to give in his submission. By a 
misunderstanding and the difficulty of reaching the proper magistrate on 
account of the snow on the mountains he was unable to obtain his certificate 
until January 6. Dalrymple, William's representative in Scotland, harbored 
a grudge against the unfortunate clan and suppressed the fact of their vield- 
ing. The king, probably innocent of the contemplated perfidy, approved 
measures for extirpating " that sept of thieves." Dalrymple's soldiers were 
sent to the glen and hospitably entertained for twelve davs in the homes of 
the Macdonalds. On the thirteenth they fell upon their hosts and slaughtered 
nearly forty in cold blood. Of those who escaped the sword many died in the 
snow on the mountain side. See Aytoun's ballad, " The Widow of Glencoe." 

2 " Change kings with us and we will fight you again," said an Irish officer 
when taunted by an Englishman with the result of the Boyne. The anni- 
versary of the victory is observed as a holiday by the Protestant Irish. In 
1795 a secret society of " Orangemen " was formed among them to defend the 
Protestant ascendancy in the island. 

s See Browning's " Herve Riel." 



The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 271 



and Tourville's shattered fleet relinquished its aim. 
The campaign against Holland was indecisive. 

The Tories controlled the second Parliament of 
William (1690-95). Their leanings were still, strongly 
toward the Jacobites. The king's allowances were cut 
down, and Jacobite offenders were amnestied. Wil- 
liam's first plan of taking his ministers from the two 
parties had created discord, and in 1693 he made up 
an all-Whig cabinet. 
This "Junto" in- 
cluded Montague, 
the financier, who 
met the war deficit 
by a plan, new to 
English finance, of 
borrowing money on 
interest. A loan of 
^1,000,000 con- 
tracted at ten per 

Cent became the The Bank of England. 

nucleus of the funded national debt. 1 The deficit of the 
following year (1693-94) was meL by a loan from a 
syndicate of London merchants who were rewarded by 
certain banking privileges, which their successors still 
hold as the "Governor and Company of the Bank of land, 1694 
England." 2 

The death of the queen (December 28, 1694) left her 
husband sole monarch of the three kingdoms. The 




National debt, 
1693. 



Bank of Eng- 



1 Instead of issuing bonds the government obtained the money by selling 
annuities. The funds for payment were derived from an increased excise tax 
on beer. 

2 The Triennial Act of 1694 made it obligatory for the king to order a 
general election for members of Parliament at least once in three years. This 
period was later extended to seven years by a law still in force. The Long 
Parliament of Charles I. had gagged the press by an act requiring all prints to 
be licensed. Milton's free spirit had protested against this restriction upon 
writing, but the law was enforced with some degree of strictness until 1695, 
when it lapsed, and Parliament declined to renew it. Newspapers sprang up 
as soon as the old law perished. 



William II 

1694-1702. 



272 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



continental war dragged heavily and in 1697 Louis 
agreed to the peace of Ryswick, recognizing William's 
sovereignty and the right of the Princess Anne to suc- 
ceed him. 

Peace abroad renewed William's difficulties in Eng- 
land. The English jealousy of his Dutch favorites took 
shape in petty annoyances and protests. He was 
accused of wasting the resources of the island to ad- 
vance his plans on the Continent. But the event soon 
vindicated his sagacity. 

The question of the succession to the Spanish crown 
Spanish succes- had long concerned the diplomacy of Europe. The 
German emperor claimed the kingdom for his son, the 
Archduke Charles, while Louis of France put forward 
the claims of his own grandson, Philip of Anjou. While 
the courts were devising means to preserve the balance 
of power the Spanish king died (November, 1700), 
naming Philip as his successor. Louis XIV. saw the 
realization of his dreams of empire. ' ' The Pyrenees 
exist no longer," he exclaimed to his grandson, depart- 
ing to claim his inheritance. 

The close union of the Spanish monarchy with 
France imperiled all that William had given his best 
energies to secure, and the steadfast Hollander resolved 
to prevent its consummation. The reckless haste of 
Louis in breaking his treaty obligations with England 
and reaffirming his support of the Jacobite cause 
made it easier to arouse England at this crisis. Par- 
liament rallied to William's support, and the Grand 
The Grand Alliance of England and Holland with the emperor 
revived. was revived in September, 1701, in order to place the 

Archduke Charles on the Spanish throne, expel the 
French from Holland and her colonies, and prevent 
the union of the French and Spanish crowns. Wil- 



The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 273 

Ham died March 8, 1701, before hostilities broke out. 1 
Anne Stuart, daughter of James II. and sister of the 
late queen, was immediately proclaimed queen, her 
insignificant husband, Prince George of Denmark, 
being admitted to no share in her authority. She was 
a good-natured, dull, matronly Englishwoman, who 
had early fallen under the masterful influence of Sarah 
Jennings, the ambitious wife of the aspiring young mili- 
tary genius, John Churchill. 

Though Churchill had been false to his first master 
James II. and had since been disgraced for correspond- 
ence with the Jacobites, William had advised his successor 
to give him the command of the English forces in the 
impending war. Within a week after Anne's accession 
he was made commander-in-chief, and at once dealt 
France a stinging blow on the Netherlands frontier. 
For his successes in the first campaign Churchill was 
created Duke of Marlborough. His friend Godolphin 
as prime minister supplied him with men and money. 
The Dutch entrusted their army to the English general, 
who was united in a generous friendship with Prince 
Eugene of Savoy, the dashing commander of the im- 
perial forces. In 1704 they achieved their first great 
triumph, intercepting the French army of invasion at 
Blenheim. 2 The duke's charge at the head of the 
cavalry won the day. There had not been such a 
harvest of French lilies in the sixty years of Louis's 
reign. Two thirds of the French troops were slain or 

1 William's last illness began with an accident. His horse stumbled at a 
mole-hill and threw him heavily, breaking his collar-bone. It is said that the 
Jacobite revelers used to toast William's horse and drink to the health of 
" the little gentleman in velvet "—the mole whose mine unhorsed the king. 

2 See Addison's poem, "The Campaign," also Southey's " Battle of Blen- 
heim." The manor of Woodstock was twelve miles in circuit and Parliament 
expended a quarter of a million pounds upon the palatial mansion. The 
architect was Sir John Vanbrugh, the subject of the celebrated epitaph : 

" Lie heavy on him, earth — for be 
Laid many a heavy load on thee." 



Death of 
William III., 
1701. 

Queen Anne, 
1701-1714. 



The 

Churchills. 



Marlborough. 



Blenheim, 
August 13, 1704. 



274 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Gibraltar 
taken. 



Malplaquet. 



taken, and their commander was among the 11,000 
prisoners. The nation rewarded Marlborough with the 
royal manor of Woodstock and built the palace of 
Blenheim for his residence. 

The allies pressed France hard. The fortress of 
Gibraltar surrendered to an English fleet. 1 Peter- 





TF1 




^"^ ^- • ■- , -l^ftT ' - 



— — r f r 








Blenheim Castle. 

borough, scarcely less fortunate than Marlborough, 
captured Barcelona, while Churchill and Eugene won 
Ramillies (1706) and Oudenarde (1708) in the North. 
Louis sued for peace, but could not accept it upon 
terms that required him to withdraw his grandson Philip 
from Spain by force. " I will fight my enemies rather 
than my own children," he said ; and his troops reflected 
his desperate spirit on the next field, Malplaquet (1709). 

1 Though the English were fighting in behalf of the Archduke Charles of 
Austria they raised their own Hag over the fatuous rock and have held it 
to this day against all comers. For its subsequent history and sieges see 
" The History of Gibraltar," by J. II. Mann. 



The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 275 

Marlborough bought this victory so dearly that a French 
marshal reported, "God grant such another defeat and 
your majesty could count your enemies destroyed." 

On the first of May, 1707, the two kingdoms of Eng- 
land and Scotland, which for a century had accepted scotiand, 1 ^^. 
the same sovereigns, became the united kingdom of 
Great Britain, 1 approving the Protestant succession as 
laid down in the Act of Settlement, 2 a common Parlia- 
ment, and a common coinage. Scottish law and the 
Scottish Church were to remain unchanged. James 
II.'s son, the Pretender, appeared in Scotland in 1708 
to profit by Scottish dissatisfaction with the union, but 
the Jacobites failed to respond and he retired to France. 

The cost of the protracted war had begun to over- 
balance the popularity of its victories. The Whigs had p h p U ] V ar. r """ 
been its main support, and Lady Churchill had secured 
the queen's favor. But Anne's Tory sympathies were 
strong, and the Tory leaders, Robert Harley and 
Henry St. John (afterward Viscount Bolingbroke), 
were consummate politicians. Harley supplanted the 
imperious Sarah's influence at the palace by the in- 
sinuating arts of her cousin Abigail Hill. Godolphin Abigail Hill, 
was dismissed (17 10) and Harley became the chief 
minister, as Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. 

Marlborough returned to London to arrest the storm. 
But he who had never lost a battle was no match for the Marlborough's 
Tory politicians. 3 He was met by accusations of mis- 

1 The cross of St. Andrew of Scotland was combined with that of St. George 
in the flag of Great Britain. 

2 By his act to settle the succession, passed in William's lifetime (1701), it was 
provided that in the event of William and Anne dying without surviving 
issue tin- crown should go to the only Protestant line of Stuarts, represented 
by Sophia, Electress of Hanover in Germany, granddaughter of James I. by 
his daughter, Elizabeth of Bohemia. 

3 The horde of scurrilous pamphleteers was turned loose against him. The 
street rabble hooted him and called him "thief!" Though he returned to 
England after Anne's death he never regained his influence. His health was 
broken and in 1722 he died. Lady Marlborough survived him until 1744, and 
employed her enormous wealth in vindicating his memory and taking ven- 
geance on her enemies and her husband's. 



276 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Peace of 
Utrecht, 1713. 



Struggle over 
the succession. 



Shrewsbury. 



use of government funds, and was dismissed from all his 
offices. The House of Lords was "packed" by the 
creation of twelve new Tory peers, and the negotia- 
tions with Louis were concluded at Utrecht (1713). 
His grandson Philip was confirmed as king of Spain. 
France renounced its support of the Stuart claims, 
approved the Protestant settlement of the English suc- 
cession, and permitted England to retain her conquests 
in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Gibraltar, and elsewhere. 
As Anne approached her death, widowed and child- 
less, the much-confirmed succession was once more in 
danger. The heir-at-law by the Act of Settlement was 
the Electress Sophia's son George, a German prince of 
no distinction, a stranger to England and its language. 
Many Englishmen were reluctant to receive another 
foreign lord, and the Jacobites, ever plotting, saw an 
opportunity of pressing the Stuart pretender's claim. 
Perhaps Bolingbroke in the cabinet was in their plots. 
He quarreled with Harley in the royal presence, which 
resulted in Harley' s dismissal from office. The queen 
broke down under the excitement, and while Whig and 
Tory were contending, she gave the badge of the prime 
minister's office to the Duke of Shrewsbury, one of 
"the seven patriots" of 1688. His selection assured 
the succession of the Protestant line. Queen Anne 
expired on August 1, 17 14, and her distant cousin 
George I. was quietly proclaimed in her stead. 



TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The Rebellion of Monmouth. 

History of England. Macaulay. 

2. The Life and Death of Dundee. 

Claverhonse. Mowbray Morris. 



The Era of the Protestant Revolution. 277 



3. Marlborough and His Campaigns. 

The Life of John Churchill. General Wolseley. 
Marlborough. George Saintsbury. 
History of the Reign of Queen Anne. J. H. Burton. 
The Age of Anne. E. E. Morris. 

4. Results of the Revolution of 1688. 

History of England. Macaulay. 

Essay on Mackintosh's Causes of the Revolution. 

Macaulay. 
Constitutional History of England. Hallam. 
Life of William III. H. D. Traill. 

Fiction, Etc. 
Lorna Doone. R. D. Blackmore. 
Micah Clarke. A. Conan Doyle. 

Lochinvar, and Men of the Moss Hags. S. R. Crockett. 
Henry Esmond. Thackeray. 
Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers. W. E. Aytoun. 
Jacobite Songs and Ballads. G. S. Macquoid, Ed. 
A Lady of Quality. F. H. Burnett. 
Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne. J. Ashton. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Thf Hanoverian Sovereigns, 1714 A. D. [837 

A. P. From mv Accession of George 

1. ro nu- Death of William IV. 



- 



\ mstitu- 

tioiial 

sovereign. 



The Riot Act. 



George 1. had never been in England until he came 
thither to be crowned September is, 1714. From his 
father ho had inherited the duchy of Brunswick-Lime- 
burg and the electorate of Hanover, and to the Protes- 
tantism of his mother Sophia, granddaughter of James 
I., he owed his claim to the United Kingdom under the 
Act of Settlement. 

In his own little German state Duke George had 
boon very much his own master, but the Revolution 
of [688 had raised such barriers against despotism in 
England that neither this sovereign nor his sou cared 
to risk getting through or over them. Ho prudently 
declined to interfere with the determination of the 
nation to govern itself by moans of Parliament and 
ministers. He meekly entrusted the government to a 
cabinet of Whigs i^the party who had supported his 
claim) and was content to draw his allowances from the 
treasury and take his pleasure with his German cronies, 
while he presided over the affairs of his duchy to the 
best of his moderate ability. 

The Whigs were in for a long lease. They im- 
peached .Anne's Tory ministers and quelled the Jaeobite 
tumults by passing the Riot Act. 1 The Earl of Mar in 

1 Unlawful assemblies must disperseon the "reading of the Kiot \o " bj .1 
magistrate, on pain of being adjudged guilty of felony. 

B 



The Hanoverian Sun reigns. 



27' 



79 



Scotland roused the Highlanders to arms in behalf of r. 
the Pretender, "James VIII. and III." Twelve thou- " r ' 7 ' 5 - 
sand men took the White Cockade, but were beaten at 
Sheriffmuir, before the Stuart claimant could reach the 

ol a< t ion. A 
few north of England 
( .ii holi< s were < ap- 
tured in arms and 
seve rely puni ihed. 
The death of Louis 
XIV. (1715) wa 
blow to Stuart hope 
for a general ion. 
I laving stru< k down 
their leading oppo 
nents the Whigs en- 
tren< hed themselves 
in Parliamenl by the 
Septennial Act -still 
in force — extending 

the duration of Parliament from three years to seven. 
The Tory legislation which was aimed to exclude dis- 
senters from the universities and the public service was 
swept away. 

The realm seemed to be entering upon a period of 
peace and commercial expansion when in 1720 it was 
convulsed by the bursting of the "South Sea Bubble." 
In 1713, shortly before the peace of Utrecht, a joint- 
stork concern, styled "The South Sea Company," 
had been chartered. It was to have a monopoly of the 
trade with Spanish South American ports, fondly 
believed to be a mine of wealth. A speculative craze 
forced the price of shares to ten times their par value, 
and scores of rival stock companies shared in the infla- 




Georgi 



Septennial 
Parliaments. 



South Sea 
Hubble, 1720. 



280 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Robert Wal- 
pole, premier, 

1721-174-;. 



George II. 



The Voung 
Pretendci. 



tion. The bursting of the bubble ruined hundreds of 
families. The outcry against the government for its 
complicity in the speculation brought Robert Walpole ' 
to the front as prime minister. For twenty-one years 
this sagacious statesman kept England at peace while 
Europe was broiling in war, fostering English manu- 
factures, extending English commerce, and directing 
the finances with consummate ability." Parliament was 
a facile instrument in his hands, which were stained 
with bribes, and the Tory opposition was too feeble to 
make head against the masterful premier. 

The death of the king in June, 1727, brought his 
son George II. to the throne. The Whig supremacy 
continued, though Walpole encountered growing oppo- 
sition from the ambitious spirits in his own party, whose 
factious demands were supported by the Tories. In 
1739 their clamor forced him into a war with Spain, 
and its ill success broke his popularity. In 1742 he 
resigned his office and retired to the House of Lords. 

The era of peace gave place to many years of war. 
King George's support of Maria Theresa in her struggle 
for the imperial throne of Germany involved England 
in the conflicts which were raging in Western Europe. 
The wars with Spain and France were closed in 174S 
by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. England gained little 
or nothing except the expulsion of the Stuarts from 
France. Charles Edward, called the Young Pretender, 
in distinction from his father, James Edward, the ' ' Old 
Pretender," had taken advantage of the party strife 

1 When other means of control failed, Walpole made unblushing use of 
bribery among the members o\ the House of Commons. The saving that 
"every man has his price," which has been attributed to him, is'not fully 
authenticated, but it suits with his methods. 

a Trade with the American colonies, which was fostered by Walpole (who 
removed many restrictive duties), increased enormously in volume and value. 
Manchester and Birmingham gained their importance by manufacturing 
goods for the markets of the New World and Liverpool rapidly became the 
great seaport of the same traffic. 



The Hanoverian Sovereigns. 281 

and foreign entanglements of England to renew the 
Stuart claims. Landing in Scotland in July, 1745, he 
rallied the ever-faithful Highland chieftains to his 
father's banner, swept aside the government forces at 
Preston P. ms (September), and advanced into the heart Battle of 

t- Preston Pans, 

of England. Then, alarmed at the popular apathy 1745- 

toward his cause and the approach of a formidable 

force, he retreated to Scotland, where in April, 1746, 

his troops were beaten and then butchered at Culloden Qu^en I74 6 

by the Duke of Cumberland. The noble prisoners 

who were sent to the block on Tower Hill were the last 

victims of the English headsman's axe. The Pretender 

himself escaped to France after wanderings as romantic 

as those of Charles II. after the Worcester fight. 1 On 

his expulsion from France he lived in Italy, where he 

died, childless, in 1788. 

The unopposed march of the Jacobite bands into the 
heart of the island revealed the weakness of the govern- 
ment. France, strong in its alliance with Spain, was 
everywhere on the aggressive, stirring up the native 
princes of India against the British trading company, 
and in America claiming the Ohio Valley and dotting 
with forts the country west of the Alleghanies. The 
defeat of Braddock's expedition against Fort Duquesne Braddock's 

. ; , defeat, 1755. 

(1755), barely saved from destruction by the skill of a 
Virginian militia officer named George Washington, was 

1 The fidelity of the Highlanders to "bonny Prince Charlie" was proved 
by the fact that though a reward of ^"30,000 was offered for his capture and 
the secret of his identity was entrusted to more than one hundred indi- 
viduals, none betrayed him. The heroine of the escape was Flora Mac- 
donald, who conducted him, disguised as a maid-servant, through the midst 
of his foes. See Boswell's "Journey of a Tour to the Hebrides," also for a 
further account of the Pretender's vicissitudes, " Pickle, the Spy," by Andrew 
Lane. 

Of the many songs of the Highland Jacobites none breathes more sincere 
devotion than this : 

" I ance had sons, but now hae nane, 
I bred them toiling sairly ; 
And I wad bear them a' again, 
And lose them a' for Charlie." 



282 Twenty Centuries of English History. 



Seven Years' 
War, 1756-1763. 



William Pitt. 



Wolfe wins 
Canada, 



Clive in India. 



followed by the "Seven Years' War" (.1756-1763). 
England seemed compassed with disaster. Her gen- 
erals were incompetent, her only ally, Frederick the 

Great of Prussia, 
was beset by three 
powerful empires, 
her king was foreign 
by birth and sym- 
pathy, and his ad- 
visers lacked the 
co nil donee of the 
nation. At this 
juncture (1757) 
William Pitt, the 
great commoner, 
became the leading- 
spirit in the govern- 
ment. 1 The gen- 
erals of his choice 
turned the tide of 
war. Fori 1 )uquesne 
fell, ami Fort Pitt 
( Pittsbu rg) rose 
upon its site. Amherst took Ticonderoga, and James 
Wolfe's victory on the Plains of Abraham won not only 
Quebec but all Canada. News came from the far East 
that with the loss of twenty-two soldiers killed and fifty 
wounded Robert Clive had won the battle of Plassy 
(Juno, 1757") and by the conquest of bengal inaugu- 
rated the British Empire in India. Despondent Kng- 
land was surfeited with victories and Pitt was the hero 

1 Pitt's clear vision saw how the native strength of the nation and the vast 
resources <>i the empii e wei e being wasted by dulness and incompetence and 
Ik- was supremely convinced of his ability to conserve and direct them. He 
saiil 10 the Duke of Devonshire, " My lord, I .mi sine iluu 1 can save this 
country, and nobody else can." 




William l'i i r. 



The ffanoverian Sovereigns. 



>8 3 



of the hour, 1 when the death of the king, October 25, 
1760, brought his headstrong grandson to the throne. 
George 111. was the tirsi Hanoverian sovereign who 

was horn in England. His mother's precept had been George m. 

i i 1760-1820. 

"Be king, George, be king," and he was not content 
like his predecessors to leave government to his min- 
isters. Little sympathy could exist between Pitt's royal 
nature and the dull 
perversity of the 
crowned head. Upon 
the failure of his pro- 
posal for a war with 
Spain lie resigned, 
and Lord Bute, a 
mere court favorite, 
became prime minis- 
ter. The peace which 
was concluded with 
France and Spain 
( 1 763 ) left Canada 
and the ( )hio Valley 
in English hands. 

The 1 I ohm- of Com- 
mons had sunk to a 
State of disgraceful corruption. Less than 160,000 votes 

. . . Need of parlia- 

were cast at elections. The ancient basis of represen- mentary 
tation which was still preserved was productive of scan- 
dalous injustice. While populous cities of recent growth 
went unrepresented, the decayed boroughs still chose 
their two members as in ancient times. The great land- 

1 Anecdotes abound which prove the spirit displayed by the British com- 
manders in Hi is war. Admiral Hawke overhauled the French Beet on ;i dark 
night in a Biscay gale, off a rocky coast. The pilot advised against hazard- 
ing an engagement. " You have done your duty in remonstrating," said 
Hawke, " Iwill answer for everything. I command you to lay me alongside 
the F rem u admiral." fhe battle resulted in an English victory. 




Lord Kute. 



I.ORH C) 1 vi- 



ivlol 111. 



- s 4 



John \v fees 



IS 



el with 
Amei 



holders and the king, the greatest and wealthiest land- 
holder of all, wore able by bribery, mere or less open, 
ontrol the choice of members and influence their 
action in the house. 1 Subjected to savage criticisms, 
Parliament undertook to curb the plain-speaking of the 
newspaper press. John Wilkes, a member, was re- 
peatedly expelled for printing harsh criticisms of the 
king- - ch and other matters in his journal, the 
Not . From 1700 to \~~2 the letters signed 

"Junius" appeared in tin tttacking 

the government with the sharpest pen ever used in 
politieal controversy. In 1771 Parliament undertook 
to prohibit the publication of its debates, but yielded 
the point to public opinion. 

America was oftenest the theme of parliamentary 
debate. The English colonies, having no voice in 
Parliament, denied the right and resisted the efforts of 
that body to levy taxes on the people of America to 
defray the expense of the late war. 

The self-confident Lord Grenville, Bute's successor, 
rhe stamp Act. obtained the "Stamp Act" v 1 ? ..^ as a means of 
raising the obnoxious revenue. The colonists gathered 
in congress to make their protest effective. Rocking- 
ham succeeded Grenville, and Pitt, from his place in 
the Lords, and Edmund Burke, the Whig orator in the 
Commons, pleaded for generous treatment. Parlia- 
ment repealed the Stamp Aet but reasserted its right to 
tax. The king's obstinacy was thoroughly aroused 
against his American subjects and for twelve years 
(1770—82) he used the ministry of Lord North to force 
them to submit. They were better Englishmen than 
the king, and his repressive measures drove them to a 

i Bj scandalous use of patronage the crown built up a faction in Parliament 
known .is the " Kind's Friends," who always voted togethei in the interest of 
the royal policy. 



1 ord N'orth 
premier. 



The Hanoverian Sovereigns. 



285 



revolt which became a successful War ol Independence 
( ' 775— 1 783). England's continental iocs, France and 
Spain, recognized the independence of the American col- 
onics and lent substantial aid. The surrender of Lord 
Cornwallis to the French and Americans (1780) practi- 
cally closed the war in America, and left one great section 
of the Anglo-Saxon race to develop along lines of its own. 
The tidings from Yorktown struck Lord North like a 
bullet in the breast. Seven costly campaigns had 
failed to reduce the revolted states. England faced a 
hostile Europe. Ireland clamored for "home rule." 




Independence 
of the United 
States of 
America. 



The Thr 



m, Windsor Castle. 



Even the long-suffering Parliament reflected the na- 
tion's disgust with the ministerial policy. North gave Failure of 

& , l J ° Lord North's 

up the struggle. His successors granted Ireland a policy. 
Parliament, and recognized the independence of the 

United States of America (17S3). 1 

1 One incident of these years was the anti-Catholic outbreak in .(11110,1780. 
The government's intention to remove some of the civil disabilities of 
Catholics, Lord George Gordon aroused the London populace with the cry of 
" No popery " and terrorized tbe city for five daj s, See Di< kens's " Barnaby 
Rudge." 



N i 



j oungei 



Industi 

romnu 



The rays of light In those gloomy years came from 
Cook,s the far East, where in India Warren Hastings was con- 
solidating an imperial domain, and in Australasia, where 
the discoveries of the navigator Captain James Cook 

opened new realms for Anglo-Saxon expansion. 

Under the wise leadership of the younger Pitt (1783- 
t8oi), sen of the great Lord Chatham, 1 Great Britain 
rallied from the loss of America, consolidated her 

foreign possessions, and as "a nation of shopkeepers" 
amassed such wealth that she became the last prop of 
Europe against the ambition of Napoleon. The last 
half of the eighteenth century was marked by a series of 
inventions which revolutionized the mining and manu- 
facturing industries of the island. These were the ob- 

ts of Pitt's fostering care, while his diplomacy 
opened the world's markets to English trade. 

Charles James Fox, the eloquent leader of the Whig 
opposition, was the boon companion of the Prince of 
Wales, and when in 1788 the king's mind became 

clouded Fox demanded a regency as Prince George's 

right. The prime minister succeeded in postponing 
the appointment, and meanwhile the king's health im- 
proved. 

From 178010 [815 affairs in France held the atten- 
tion of the world. After centuries of Bourbon des- 
potism the nation had risen in revolution, abolished all 
privilege, and framed a constitution after the British 
model. Many Englishmen gloried in the principles of 
the French Revolution with the threefold watchword, 
"Liberty, equality, brotherhood." Wordsworth gives 
to the feeling of ardent youth : 

i Pitt had gone from the ui uncut, and before h - twenty- 

fifth birthday was virtual ruler of Great Britain. 

" \ sight to make surrounding nations stare, 
\ i ngdom trusted to a scare!" 



The French 
R volution. 



ithy in 
England. 



The I ' />>7ioverian . >/s. 287 






Bli , , was it in that dawn to be alive 
Bui to be young was very heaven ' 

I . hailed il with delight. Pitt sympathized with the 
French in their struggle for liberty, though Burke , "'""" 
warned his former associates that disaster would follow 
the overthrow of government. 1 Hi-, prophecy was 
quickly verified. The French Republicans beheaded 
King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette, and, offering 
its aid to all "the oppressed peoples" of Europe, was 
soon involved in war with Holland, Spain, Germany, 
and England (1793— 1802). 

England's navies swept the sea, and her subsidii 
kept ill-generaled armies of Austria and Prussia in the 
field, but the enthusiasm of the French and the genius 
of their leaders were irresistible on the land. Napo- 
leon Bonaparte, a young; Corsican officer of artillery, . 

1 ' J ^> ■> ' Napoleon 

compelled Austria to sign a humiliating peace (1797). Bdna P 
Pitt's heart was not in the campaign and he too would 
have mad'- terms. The "United Irishmen" rose .... 

Irish insui 

(1798), expecting aid from France to establish their tionoi 
independence, but the power of England in the Channel 
was too formidable. The insurrection was drowned in 
blood, and the French turned their victorious arms to 
the East. Admiral Nelson followed them to Egypt „ , 

oj 1 \ elson rm<l 1 he 

and destroyed their fleet at Aboukir (August, 1799;. xile - 
General Bonaparte returned to France (October, 1799) 
to make himself its master. Pitt had formed a Second 

Second 
Coalition of the powers, Russia, Austria, Portugal, Coalition, 

1799-1801. 

Naples, and Turkey, against the French, but Napoleon, 
now First Consul, shattered it at Hohenlinden (1801). 

1 See lii . ' Reflections on the Revolution in France, etc." (1790), which ran 
through twelve editions in one year and broug ons of approval I 

the crowned heads oi Europe. In May, 1791, in the House of Commons Fox 
-il,,., neer al certain - 1 his friend's book. Burke replied 

wit 1 1 emphatic warnings, and formally broke the friendship whi< li had bound 
him and Fox togi thei foi 1 venty years. 



288 Twi furies of English Hh 



Union of 
Ireland with 



! j 



The great minister had lost the Favor of the king. 
Throughout the wars with France Ireland had been a 

thorn in England's 
A side. The meas- 

ure of homo rule 
granted in 178a 
had failed miser- 
ably, and the Irish 
Parliament was a 
scandal. On Jan- 
uary 1, 1 801, the 
legislative union of 
Ireland with Great 
Britain was inaugu- 
rated, and Irish 
members were re- 
ceived into the 
Parliament at 
\Y e stmt n s t e r . 
Among the in- 
du ceme nts by 
which the consent 
of the Irish Cath- 
ol ies had been 
gained for the measure was the pledge of liberal conces- 
sions to men of their religion. 1 These pledges Parlia- 
ment refused to redeem, and all the stubborn spirit of the 
king was provoked by Pitt's proposals. The project was 

'Tin \ l( penal code against the Catholics of Ireland not only excluded 

them from all public office, but attacked them at every relation of life, ["heir 
children must be educated .is Protestants 01 grow up in ignorance, they could 
not buy land from Protestants, marriages between Catholics and Protestants 
were void, and the officiating priest might be hung. To convert a Protestant to 
Catholicism was a capital offense, its multifarious and intolerable details 
Burke characterised as " a machine of wise ami elaborate contrivance, ami as 
well fitted tor the oppression, impoverishment, and degradation of a people 
and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as evei proceeded from 
the perverted ingenuity of man.'' 




n Column, Drafalgar Square, 



The Hanoverian Sovereigns. 289 

defeated, and the majority of the Irish nation have 
ever since pointed to the union as a monument of 
bribery and fraud. Pitt resigned his post in dismay, pitt's resigna- 
The new cabinet, of which Lord Addington was pre- 
mier, broke up the league which the Baltic states had 
formed against England, and concluded a treaty of Peaceof 

with France. Napoleon utilized the fourteen Amiens, 1802. 
months of peace in making stupendous preparations 
for the invasion of the British Isles. Hostilities were 
renewed in May, 1803, anc i the voice of the nation 
again called Pitt to the post of responsibility. He 
prepared men and ships for the defense of England 1 
and inspired a Third Coalition, consisting of Austria, Th Third 
Sweden, and Russia, to attack Napoleon, who had Coalition. 
assumed the title of emperor. "Give us the Channel 
for six hours and England is ours," Napoleon had 
said, scanning the opposite coast from his camps at 
Boulogne. But the Channel was Nelson's. By a 
rapid change of front Napoleon turned and struck 
Austria at Ulm, even as Nelson was crushing the com- 
bined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. Eng- Trafalgar, 1804. 
land was saved, but the battle of Austerlitz (1805) 
detached Austria from the coalition and left England 
again almost alone. "Roll up that map," Pitt said, 
pointing to the map of Europe, when the news of 
Austerlitz reached London, " there will be no use for it 
these- ten years." A month later he was laid by the 
side of his honored father in Westminster Abbey. The January 23, 1806. 
triumph of Napoleon had been his death-stroke. 

Napoleon next attacked British commerce by his 
"Berlin Decree," which closed the ports of Europe to ^Jg^^ 5 
British trade and declared the British Isles in a state of Council. 

1 See Wordsworth's sonnets, "To the Men of Kent," "In the Pass of 
Killi< rankie," "October, 1803," "Calais, August, 1802," "September, 1802," 
"' London, 1802," and " November, 1806." 



w . ington. 



\ I 

blockade. England retaliated by issuing her "Orders 
in Council.'* declaring France to be in a state of 

blockade. "Prussia and Russia joined the emperor in 
Contint the enforcement of his "Continental System" against 

England, and only the prompt action ot the bnglish 
government in seizing the neutral Danish fleet kept the 
gateway of the Baltic open to British commerce. To 
perfect his system the conqueror occupied Portugal and 
Spain (1807). England supplied men and money for 
the Peninsular War which ensued. Sir Arthur Welles- 
The Peninsulai l ov drove the French from Portugal, ami for his suhse- 
quent successes in Spain he was rewarded with the title 
of Viscount Wellington. 1 

It was Wellington who on the 14th of June, 1815, at 
Waterloo in Belgium put an end to Napoleon's career. 
The disturber of Europe was caged on the British islet 
of St. Helena and the Congress of Vienna, in which the 
nations stripped France of her conquests, added still 
further to the colonial empire of Britain. 

enforcement of the commercial regulation, which 

grew out of the Napoleonic wars, together with the 

British practice of searching neutral vessels and im- 

withthe pressing alleged English subjects for her naval service, 

United S:v.os. ° ' ' , 

- 5 brought about a second war with the I mted States 

(181 2— 1815), in which the successes of English arms on 
land were balanced by their failure on the s< 

During the closing decade of the reign, the Prince of 

Wales, a frivolous man of fashion, was regent in the 

I'he Regency, .... , . 

isu- - stead 01 Ins blind and demented father. 1 he govern- 

ment faced perplexing problems. The laboring classes 
were distressed and clamorous, and riotous bands 
broke the power looms and spinning frames which were 

1 In tlic wtntei of 1808-9 the English comm S fohn Moore 

etreat to the Spanish port of Corunna in the I 

Napoleon and Marshal S W s " Death of Sii fohuM 



The Hanoverian Sovereigtis. 



291 



accused oi being "labor-saving"" at the expense of the 
laborer. Loud calls were heard for reform in the 
.system of representation in Parliament, and for the 
removal of the dis- 
abilities of Cal ho- 
lics. One great 
reform was accom- 
plished when in Slave trade 
1 . . abolished, 1807. 

[807 tin* abolition 
of the slave trade 
ci ou ned the labors 
of Pitt, Clarkson, 
and Wilberforce. 
( ) n [anuary 20, 
[820, the broken 
dow a king breathed 
his last. 

( u( >rge 1 V. gave 
his ministers free 



Tlnir re 




( leorge IV., 
1820-1830. 



Canning. 



scope 

pression oi radical 
agitators ' led to a 

, , 1 1 •.. , . - , Arthur Wellesley. Duke of Wellington. 

plot, 1 he Cai o 

1 1 he * ato 

Street Conspiracy," for which one Thistleuood with Street Con- 
. . ,, spiral j 

several of his accomplices was hanged. Canning*, the 
leading spirit of the cabinet, placed England on the 
side of the " Liberal" party in Europe, as opposed to 

the " Holy Alliance," by which the monarchical powers 

were repressing the sentiments of the French Revolu- 
tion. I le recognized the independence of the rebellious 
Spanish American states, aided Portugal against Spain, 

1 On August [6. 1819, an assemblage ol upwards ol 60,000 men, women, and 
children wno had met in Si. Peter's Fields, Manchestei , to listen to speeches 
in the Interest ol parllamentarj reform, was charged by cavaln and eleven 
persons were killed, rhis was the Manchestei Massacre,'' or, as the 
opponents of reform called it, " fhe Battle oi Peterloo." 



- ■ 



I 



- 



W iam IV 
337. 






and Gn 1 g nst the Turk. Such was the tide in 

favor of more liberal policies that even the Tory minis- 
try of Wellington and Peel could not withstand the 
demand for Catholic emancipation (1829), successfully 

championed by Daniel O' Council, "the Liberator." 
By the death of his elder brother (June 26, 1830) the 
sailor-prince came to the throne as William 1Y. The 

reform of the par- 
liamentary system 
overshadowed all 
other questions. 
The inborn oppo- 
sition to constitu- 
tional change had 
been confirmed by 
the crimes which 
had been committed 
in the name of lib- 
erty in France. But 
the writings of 
bett and others, de- 
manding the admis- 
sion of the people to 
a larger share in the 
government, be- 
came irresistible. Wellington's military fame did not 
secure him from obloquy for his opposition, and the 
king was hooted in public. The Tory ministry yielded 
and the Whigs, headed by Earl Grey and Lord John 
Russell, came into power. The oligarchy fought hard 
but in vain, 1 and on June 7, 1832, the Reform Bill 

1 Th< traduced March 1, 1831, and was defeated in the Commons 

by eight vol I and after the elections the new 

House of Commons passed the bill (September) by 109 majority. The Lords 

prompt!)' threw it out. In iS_;j the government's bill had 119 majority in the 
Commons. strutted in the Lords, The ministry] '.ivo>. 




Daniel Conni 



The Hanoverian Sovereigns. 293 



became a law. Ii is hard at this day to understand 
how such a measure, providing for a reapportionment {.',',, ;;'|"; 1 < 'i? i || the 
of members of the House of Commons in accordance "32- 
with changes in population and some extensions of the 
electoral franchise, could have been the cause of such 
real alarm. Wellington expressed the forebodings of 
his party — the Conservatives — when he said of the first 
reformed Parliament: "We can only hope for the 
best ; we cannot foresee what will happen ; but few 
people will be sanguine enough to imagine that we 
shall ever again be as prosperous as we have been." 
Yet the new House of Commons did not subvert the 
government. It abolished slavery in every land under 
the Hritish flag ; modified and ameliorated the poor- 
laws which had fostered pauperism for two centuries ; 
cleared the town and city governments of their chartered 
corruption ; broke up the trade monopoly of the East 
India Company, and showed energy, prudence, and wis- reformed 

1 J ' oj ' 1 ... Parliament, 

dom. The king once tried to rid himself of his "Lib- 1833. 
eral " ministers, but the country rallied to their support. 
In June, 1837, the death of the king prepared the way 
for the long and eventful reign of his brother's child, 
Victoria. 



TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

r. The Revolt of the American Colonies. 
The American Revolution. John Fiske. 
History of England from the Peace of Utrecht. Stan- 
hope. 

The Liberal newspapers came out in mourning rules. The public was wildly 
excited against the peers. The king lent his aid to the ministry with such 
effei 1 as to change the mind of the Lords, and on June 4, 1832, the bill was 
finally enai ted into law. 



I 

Phe Founding of the British Power in India. 
Rise of British Dominion in India. A. 1 will. 
Macaulay's Essays on "Clive" and "Warren Hast- 

»s 

;. i'\ \ \ he Napoleonic Wars 
The Life of Nelson. Mahan, 
History of the Peninsular Wi N >ier. 

.ssage of niK Reform Bill. 

Constitutional History of England. May. 
History of England from 1815. Walpole. 

x s the English Constitution. Amos. 

Fiction, Etc. 
The Foui ickeraj 

Two Chiefs of Dunboy. Fronde. 
Kidnapped and David Balfour. K. L. Stevenson, 
Waverlej 

John Halifax. Gentleman. Craik. 
The Shadow of the Sword. Buchanan. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Victorian Era, 1837, A. D. — 1897. — From 

tiii'. Accession ok Queen Victoria to the 

"Diamond Jubilee" of Her Reign. 

Tiii': Princess Victoria Alexandrina, whose father, the 
Duke of Kent, was the fourth sou of George III., came 
to the throne upon the death of her unele. She was a 
gentle and serious maiden of eighteen, and showed a 
deep sense of the responsibilities which were laid upon 
her. Her accession terminated the connection between 
the crowns of England and Hanover, for her sex ex- 
eluded her from the sovereignty of the German state, 
which passed to her father's brother, the Duke of Cum- 
berland. The queen's marriage in 1840 with her kins- Albert, Prince 
man Albert, a German prince of high character and sovereign' 
cultivation, marked the founding of a family whose ^d°i86u 
home life was to exhibit a simplicity and purity rare in 
any station. 1 

"Chartism" and "free trade" were the absorbing 
public questions of Victoria's earlier years. The reforms 
of 1832, which had horrified the aristocracy and pleased 
the middle class, were denounced as inadequate and par- 
tial by the leaders of the workingmen. The latter, per- 
ceiving the strength which lay in numbers, asked for a 

1 The surviving children of this union (1S98) are: (1) Princess Victoria 
(Empress Frederick), widow of Frederick I., Emperor of Germany: (2) 
Albeit Edward, Prince of Wales, married Alexandria, daughter of King Chris- 
tian IX., of Denmark; (3) Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, married Marie, 
daughter of Emperor Alexander II., of Russia; (4) Princess Helena, married 
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; (5) Princess Louise, married John, 
Marquis of Lome, son of Duke of Argyll; (6) Prince Arthur, Duke of Cpn- 
naught, married Princess Louise of Prussia ; (7) Princess Beatrice, married 
Prince I bin \ son of Prince Alexandei ol 1 1 esse. 

295 






ter. 



The Chartists. 



new parliamentary reform which should admit them to a 
share in the government. Their demands, set forth in 
a petition to which the Irish orator, O'Connell, gave 
the name of "the People's Charter," were as follows: 
t i ^ Parliaments to be elected annually; (2) manhood 

suffrage; (3) vote 
by ballot : (4) 
abolition of prop- 
erty qualification 
for membership 
iit the House of 
Commons : (5) 
salaries for mem- 
bers of Parlia- 
ment , and (6) 
equal electoral 
districts. Sixty 
years ago these 
moderate de- 
mands were con- 
sidered prepos- 
terous and revo- 
lutionary. 1 Riots 
followed the 
rejection of the 
petition. In 1 848 
the "Chartists" 
again brought forward their grievances, and London was 
in such terror that its citizens enrolled themselves for its 
defense under the hero of Waterloo. The petition, with 
nearly two million signatures, was duly presented, but 




n \ [CTORIA IN HER CORONATION ROBES 

From the painting bj S i George Hayter, K. A. 

in Windsor Castle. 



1 Several of these "points "have since become parts of the English consti- 
tution. The second w.is practically accomplished by the later reform bills. 
The thinl is now :\ (act, and the laclc of property no longer bars .1 man from 

membership in the House of Commons. 



'/'//>■ Victorian Era. 



297 



there was no turbulence. The cloud blew over, and 
Chartism, despite the frantic appeals of its leaders, was 
laughed <»ut of existence. Its chief demands have grad- 
ually been granted. 

The free trade agitation was better managed. For Freetra( je. 
the "protection" of the landowners of Great Britain, 
i. e., the aristocrats, the raising of grain was fostered 
by a set of enactments known as "corn-laws." Their The corn-laws, 
object was to sup- 
port the price .1 i 
domestic cereals by 
collecting heavy 
duties upon im- 
ported breadstuffs. 

A g r o up of 
thoughtful and able 
men, among whom 
Richard Cobden 
and John Bright 
were foremost, pro- 
tested that such 
legislation was to 
the advantage of 
the few producers 
and to the immense 
disadvantage of the 
more numerous con- 
sumers. By pam- 
phlet and newspaper, at the hustings and in Parliament, 
these men, who in 1838 formed at Manchester the "Anti- 
Corn-Law League," labored early and late for the re- 
moval of these restrictions upon trade. 1 The law-making 

1 Ebenczer Elliott, the "corn-law rhymer," helped to arouse public senti- 
ment by his popular poetry, in which he depicted with great originality and 
power the sufferings of the working people. See " Corn-Law Rhymes." 




Richard 
Cobden and 

John Bright. 



John Stuart Mill. 



Irish famine. 



298 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

class was also the landowning class, and it was no easy 
matter to extort from them the repeal legislation for 
which the people at last became clamorous. The Cob- 
denites found chief support among the Liberals ; and it 
was to some extent the fear that this party would bring 
in free trade that led to its overthrow in 1S41 and the 
second elevation of Sir Robert Peel to the head of the 
Conservative ministry, among whose younger members 
was William E. Gladstone. In 1S42 this new cabinet 
revised the tariff, reducing the duties upon many articles. 
Famine in Ireland won free trade for Great Britain. The 
failure of the potato crop of 1S45 convinced the prime 
minister that the duties upon imported food supplies must 
be repealed. Lord Russell, the Liberal leader, declared 
his conversion to Mr. Cobden's principle, "buy in the 
cheapest market and sell in the dearest." Thereupon 
Sir Robert went over to the free traders, and, though 
many of his own party deserted him, he carried, with 
Liberal assistance, a measure which not only repealed 
the corn-laws by gradual reduction of duties, but utterly 
abandoned the protectionist theory. 1 Disraeli, just 
springing into prominence in the Conservative party, 
wittily said of Peel's sudden adoption of the Whig free 
trade ideas, " Peel caught the Whigs in bathing and ran 
off with their clothes." In June, 1846, the bill became 
Repeal. a l aw . From the repeal of the corn-laws dates the 

supremacy of free trade in Great Britain. 

After the battle of Waterloo England remained at 
peace with European nations for nearly forty years. 
But the restlessness of the Irish and the constant broils 

1 " The monopolist might execrate me," said Peel, "but it may be that I 
shall be remembered with good-will in the abodes of men whose lot it is to 
labor and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow— a name to be 
remembered with expressions of good-will when they shall recreate their 
exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is 
no longer leavened with a sense of injustice." 



The I Ictorian Era. 



299 



Opium war. 






on the distant frontiers of the empire furnished the 

army with almost incessant employment. Insurrections The wars of the 

J r j century. 

in Canada led to reforms (1840-47, 1867) which 
united the Domin- 
ion and endowed it 
with substantial 
home rule. From 
1S39 to 1842 the 
royal arms were 
dire cted against 
China, a nation 
which was reso- 
lutely opposed to 
European trade. 
This ' ' opium war ' ' 
opened the Chinese 
market to the Brit- 
ish East India trad- 
ers. The conquer- 
ors seized Hong 
Kong, and have 

, 1 1 . John Tyndall. 

since held it as a 

commercial and naval station. Other Chinese wars 

sprang from the bad blood then engendered. 

Jealousy of Russia inspired a new and lasting dread in 
the British mind. The immense domain of the czar in 
Asia, and his persistent efforts to extend his boundaries 
toward the south, alarmed the government for the safety 
of British India. In 1838 England undertook to expel 
Dost Mohammed, the Afghan prince or ameer, from his 
country (Afghanistan) and to replace him with a friendly Afghan 
sovereign. The plan of invasion was at first successful, 
and Cabul, the capital, was taken, but fortune soon The retreat 
changed and the invaders were repeatedly beaten, until 




Russia. 



/■ 



. 






- . 






. - 
safe . i$ 

- . sses 

S 

Russ dements 

... \ . - . 
- - s a sick sick 

s 

gements . 

a 

ssess 
ssess - sl Russia is 

x 5S J S 

s 5 - 553 

Russ ; stensible g 

s claims 
. . : C 
VYes save 

N 



The I '/> tot tan Era, 



301 



The l< ussians made des | |( t*o\ 

1 topol 



Balaklava, 



luil 3. War was <l< ■> lared in [8 , 1 , and Lord Raglan, a 
pupil ol Wellington, was senl to the Black Sea with a 
British army, to cooperate with the French in an attack 
upon the Russians in the Crimea. They landed in thai 
peninsula in September, [854, defeated the Russians in 
the battle of the Alma, and laid siege for 349 days to 
the fortress <»f Sebastopol. 
perate efforts to beal 
them off, failing al 
Balaklava,' October 
25, and again at In- 
kerman, November 

k , In 1 1 1 ( • ; 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 ) 1 1 of 

1 855, when t !:<• siege 
had Lasted nearly a 
year, the Russians 
evai uated the ti »wn, 
The ( Irimean Wa 1 
u.i. terminated by 
the peat e of I 'ai is in 
Man h, [856, in whii h 
I'm ia renounced hei 
claims and Turkey 
took "Hi a new lease 
of lifi 

In the summer ol 
1S57 England stood 
aghasl al the tidings 
from India. That immense and populous empire 
was governed by the British East [ndia Company, 

1 At I'll 'M.i ■ urred " the charge ol thi hi ivy brigade," in which ! 

lett with 500 hone broki up thi enein , » cavalry, Lord Raglan 

.in ordi 1 lo the Light Brigade to try to prevent the enemy carrying awaj • • i 
1.1 1 11 guns, 1 he blundi ring bi an i "i the mi iag;e Indii ated the wrong batti i 

1 1 1. 1 iii. cavalry, 6 , I itrong, rode Into the valli ■. ol di ith and were mowed 
down by the cannon See rennyson's two poems, " The Chargi of the 

Hea ) Hi Igade al Balakl iva ind rhel liai I the I ighl Bi Ig idi " 




< IIAI' I !■', I IAHWIN. 



Pi eol I'.n 1 1, 
i 56 



- : 



Em 



The Sepoy 
Rebell: 



Massacre at 

C awn pore. 



whose force consisted almost entirely of native troops, 
or "sepoys," officered by Englishmen. On Sunday, 

May io, 1857, the sepoys at Meerut mutinied, and killed 
their officers. The rumor had spread among them that 

the British had de- 
signs on their re- 
ligion : that the 
greasy cartridges of 
their new Enfield 
rifles were smeared 
with a mixture of 
cow's fat and hog's 
lard — the cow being 
the sacred animal of 
the Hindu and the 
hog the unclean 
beast of the Moham- 
medan. The muti- 
neers proclaimed 
the native king of 
Delhi emperor of 
India, and called 
upon their country- 
men to exterminate 
Thomas H. Huxley. t ^ e JmpioUS Eng- 

lish. General dissatisfaction with the company's rule 
fed the revolt, which rapidly grew to a fanatical re- 
bellion. Before troops could arrive from England the 
worst had been done. At Cawnpore a thousand English 
of both sexes and all ages, who surrendered themselves 
to Nana Sahib, were mercilessly butchered. In Septem- 
ber the English took Delhi by storm and deposed the 
Mogul emperor. In September General Havelock cut 
his way through the ring of the besiegers about Lucknow 




The 1 1 dorian Era. 



303 



and brought timely relief to the garrison. 1 But the ring 
closed up behind him, and his little army was saved 
from massacre two months later by the arrival of Sir 
Colin Campbell with troops fresh from England. The 
taking of Lucknow in March, 1858, snuffed out the 
mutiny. Parliament relieved the East India Company 
of all its share in the government of the Indian Empire, 
and on September 1, 1858, the sovereignty of the queen 
was proclaimed throughout the peninsula. Twenty 







Ruins of Residency, Lucknow. 





Relief of 
Lucknow. 



years later (January 1, 1877) the title "Empress of « Empresso f 
India" was added to the queen's dignities. India." 

The acute disorder in India was easier to cure than 

1 Havelock's fame and knighthood rests on this one march to the relief of 
Lucknow. He left Allahabad July 7, with but 1,000 men ; on the 12th, having 
been somewhat reenforced, he put to flight an army of double his numbers. 
On the 16th he defeated Nana Sahib before Cawnpore. In September the 
arrival of Outram raised his forces to 2,500, and with them he defeated 10,000 
and brought succor to the blockaded city September 25. See Tennyson's 
" Defence of Lucknow." Havelock, worn out by his exertions, died two 
months later, saying to a friend, " I have for forty years so ruled my life that 
when death came I might face it without fear." Before the sad tidings reached 
London the queen had made him a baronet. 



304 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

the chronic discontent in Ireland. O'Connell promised 
i rish , , his countrvmen that the early years of \'ictoria should 

discontent. - - - 

witness the " repeal of the union '" — meaning the repeal 
of the act of 1S00, which united Ireland with Great 
Britain under the control of Parliament. The Roman 
Catholics — five sixths of the Irish nation — had never 
o Conneirs become reconciled to the union, and the priests and 

lailure. r 

bishops of that church became O'Connell' s most active 
lieutenants. His magic eloquence stirred Irish patri- 
otism to its depths. In 1S43 the British government 
broke up his meetings, and when the Irish people found 
that their leader would not take arms for Ireland's lib- 
erties, they deserted him. 

The failure of the island's single crop (potatoes) 

brought famine in its train (1846-57^, and, as the 

1848, the year of promises of O'Connell faded, the Irish felt their mis- 

revolutions. * 

eries increase. The spirit of the times — the year 1S4S 
was marked by ' ' liberal ' ' uprisings in half the king- 
doms of Europe — taught the more ardent Irishmen to 
win by force the independence which O'Connell* s elo- 
•Voung quence had failed to secure. "Young Ireland" was 

organized in the name of liberty by Smith O'Brien, 
Mitchell, Meagher, and other hot-headed Celts, fresh 
from college or active in journalism. Their reckless 
newspaper attacks upon the British government com- 
pelled the authorities to suppress them. The leaders of 
this "Rebellion of '48" were condemned for treason 
and transported to Australia. Secret brotherhoods 
sprang up in the wake of the Young Ireland agitation, 
the most formidable of all being the Fenian Associa- 
tion. 1 In 1S67 an attempt to raise Ireland in a general 
insurrection failed utterly ; the execution of a few pris- 

1 The Fenians, so called after the name (Fiann.-O of the military force of 
ancient free Ireland, consisted largelv of Irish veterans of the American Civil 
War. 







William Ewart Gladstone. 



Gladstone's 

policy. 



Disestablish- 
ment. 



306 Twenty Centuries glish Histt 

oners and the temporary suspension of the Habeas 
Corpus Act restored the appearance of peace in the 

Emerald Isle. 

Mr. William Ewart Gladstone became prime minister 
in 1S68, and inaugurated a new method of dealing with 
Ireland. His policy was not to allow Ireland to rule 
herself, but to rule her in accordance with Irish ideas. 
In 1S69, the state church of Ireland, which had been 
forced upon an unwilling nation at the time of the 
English Reformation, was disestablished. Its govern- 
ment support was removed, and it sank to the con- 
dition of the Roman 
Catholic, Presby- 
terian, and Wesley- 
an denominations, 
as simply a free and 
independent organ- 
ization. This meas- 
ure provoked the 
bitterest denunci- 
ations from the Irish 
Protestants. The 
next year Mr. (.".lad- 
stone attacked the 
Irish land tenure 
system. His land 
law of 1S70 recog- 
nized that the tenant 
had some right to 
his holding, and must be compensated for any improve- 
ments which he might make. Yet Ireland was not 
satisfied with these concessions; the cry of "Home 
Rule" — the restoration of the Irish Parliament — once 
raiseil by O'Connell, was repeated in the British Parlia- 




Hknr\ M. Stanley. 



The Victorian Era. 



307 



ment by Mr. Butt (1870), and afterward (1880) by 
Mr. Parnell. In 1886 Mr. Gladstone became a convert Home rule fails, 
to home rule, and resigned his office in consequence of 
his defeat on the question in Parliament. Coupled with 
the home rule 
agitation was a 
plea for further 
reforms in the 
land tenure sys- 
tem, but no 
satisfactory re- 
sult has been 
attai ncd, and 
the Irish ques- 
tion, despite the 
Liberal phy- 
sicians and the 
Conservative 
surgeons, re- 
mains an open 
sore. 

The legis- 
lation of the 
reign covers a 
wide fi e 1 d . 
Cheap postage 
and postal tele- 
graphy, the extension of inland and foreign commerce 
by means of railroads and fast steamships, the great Leg j s i at j on 
advance in all departments of manufacture have given 
the government a new set of problems to deal with. 
Peel's Reform Bill of 1832 has been twice extended. 
In 1867 the Conservative ministry, in which Lord Derby 
was chief, with Mr. Disraeli as leader in the Commons, 




Whikiingham Church, Isle of Wight. 
Queen Victoria's church. 



. 



I 



carried a reform bill which w - - a leap 

in the dark.'' It greatly lowered the pi [ualifi- 

tion for voters, franchising in bor g - 

holders who paid poor tax. and lodg S] 

early rent. County voters must hold pro; 
worth .^5 a year, or occ s r tenements of at 

leas: J : rental. This act admitted workingmen 

rights N ? we must e the men 

whom we have made our masters," said a memb. 
Parliament. In 1 870 the Gla - g t es 

lished .. .'. public school system throughout 

land and Wales, in 1S71 the same adminisl 
ished the purchase of commissions in the army, and in 
372 subs Is : for the open method of 

g for memtx - iment. In Mr. Gladst 

I ministry (1880—85 a new reform bill made the 
rtive franchise equal throughout I g 
Scotland, and Ireland : adding two millions to the num- 
ber rs, and bi ig g up to five 
millions, and making the government 
more than ever "a government of the people, by the 
pe, I for the people." 

S e the sir. — 1 of the Indian mutiny no s< 
rebellion has vexed the peace of the empire. The 

- : .n India and Burmah have found constant 
pation in preserving the boundaries from marauding 
3 while the . - Eg pt from the 

I the forcible extens 1 of British 

trade and dominion in South Africa have led to bloody 
campaigns. 

The isle of the Angles has become the head of a 
worl re of 10,000,000 square miles of territory 

inha 3 5 30,000 of people. This Greater 

Britain, upon whose flag the sun never sets and \\ 



1 






The I 'ictorian Era. 



309 




Military high- 
ways. 



morning drum-beat follows the sun around the globe, is 

policed and defended at enormous cost by a fleet of war- Greater Britain. 

ships which is maintained at a strength superior to that 
of any other two nations. A chain of fortresses and 
coaling stations, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Alexandria, 
Aden, with the Suez Canal, insure communication with 
the vast possessions in the East, while the Bermudas, 
I [alifax, the Cana- 
dian Pacific Rail- 
way, Vancouver, 
and Hong Kong 
link London with 
the ultimate West. 
The problem of the 
government of these 
dependencies is 
pressing for so- 
lution. The narrow 
colonial policy 
which led to the 
successful revolt of 
the North American 
colonies in 1776 has 
given place to a 
generous pride in 
the Greater Britain 

in which London Quehn Victoria. 

and Bombay, Liverpool and Auckland, Vancouver and 
Cape Town are sister cities. It will be the duty of the 
historian of the next century to record whether the 
political genius of the Anglo-Saxon was equal to the kXration. 
task of devising institutions under which these trophies 
of discovery and conquest may become a federated 
empire greater in wealth, population, and power — and 



310 Twenty Centuries of English History. 

in freedom and civilization far greater — than Augustan 
Rome. 

The multitudes that gathered in London from all 
parts of the empire in 1887 to celebrate the fiftieth anni- 
versary of the queen's coronation, and the still more 
impressive festivities of the Diamond Jubilee of 1S07. 
when soldiers of many subject lands escorted Victoria 
to St. Paul's Cathedral in commemoration of the com- 
pletion of her sixty years of sovereignty, afforded im- 
pressive evidence of the greatness of her realm. The 
attitude of modern England toward her colonial empire 
has been declared by the poet laureate in the spirited 
lines : 

Britain fought her sons of yore — 
Britain failed ; and never more. 
Careless of our growing kiu, 
Shall we sin our father's sin. 
Men that in a narrower day — 
Unprophetic rulers they — 
Drove from out the eagle's nest 
That young eagle of the West 
To forage for herself alone ; 
Britons, hold your own '. 

Sharers of our glorious past. 
Brothers, must we part at last 3 
Shall we not thro' good and ill 
Cleave to one another still ? 
Britain's myriad voices call, 
" Sons, be welded each and all 
Into one imperial whole, 
One with Britain, heart and soul ! 
One life, one flag, one fleet, one throne ! " 
Britons, hold your own ! 



The Victorian lira. 311 

TOPICS FOR READING AND SPECIAL STUDY. 
WITH LIBRARY NOTES. 

1. The Indian Mutiny. 

History of the Indian Mutiny. Kaye and Malleson. 
Sir Henry Havelock. W, Brock. 
Life of Lord Lawrence. R. B. Smith. 

2. The Triumph of Free Trade. 

The Epoch of Reform. J. McCarthy. 

Life of Cobden. J. Morley. 

History of the Anti-Corn-Law League. A. Prentice. 

Life and Times of John Bright. W. Robertson. 

History of England During the Peace. II. Martineau. 

3. The Crimean War. 

The Invasion of the Crimea. Kinglake. 
History of Our Own Times. J. McCarthy. 

4. Greater Britain. 

Oceana. Froude. 

English Colonization and Empire. Caldecott. 
A Scheme for Imperial Federation. Cuningham. 
The Imperial and Colonial Constitutions of the Brit- 
annic Empire. Creasy. 

Fiction, Etc. 
Coningsby and Lothair. Disraeli. 
Alton Locke. Kingsley. 

On the Face of the Waters. Flora Annie Steele. 
Marcella. Mrs. Humphry Ward. 



INDEX. 



Afghanistan, 299. 

Agincourt, battle of, 142. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 280. 

Albert, Prince Consort, 295. 

Alfred the Great, 55. 

American War, 284, 285. 

Angles, 38. 

Anglo-Saxons, 39; language, 132. 

Anne of Cleves, 179. 

Anne, Queen, 263, 272-6. 

Anselm, 79, 82. 

Argyle's rebellion, 264. 

Armada, Spanish, 209-11. 

Arthur, King, 40. 

Arthur, Prince, 101. 

Aryans, 28, 38. 

Ashdune, battle of, 55. 

Askew, Anne, 182. 

Assize of Arms, 93; of Northampton, 

93 ; Bloody, 265. 
Athelstan, 59. 
Attainder, Bills of, 180. 
Augustine in Kent, 46. 
Bacon, Francis, 222. 
Balaklava, 301. 
Ball, John, 137, 138. 
Bank of England, 271. 
Bannockburn, battle of, 121. 
Barebone's Parliament, 252. 
Barnet, battle of, 156. 
Barons' War, 109-10. 
Bayeux tapestry, 69. 
Beaufort, Cardinal, 145. 
Becket, Thomas a, 90-2. 
Bede, the Venerable, 50. 
Bedford, Duke of, 145, 146. 
Benedictines, 60. 
Benevolences, 165, 170. 
Bertha, Queen, 46. 
Bible, the English, 177, 181 •, King 

James's, 218. 
Bill of Rights, 269. 
Bishops excluded from Parliament, 

240. 
Bishops' Wars, 235, 236. 



Black Death, 131. 

Blenheim, battle of, 273. 

Blondel, 98. 

Boadicea, 34. 

Boleyn, Anne, 165, 17S. 

Book of Common Prayer, 197. 

Boroughs, 72. 

Bosvvorth, battle of, 159. 

Bothwell, Earl of, 202. 

Boyne, battle of the, 270. 

Breda, Declaration of, 256. 

Bretwalda, 41. 

British Isles, location, 12. 

Britons, 28 ; described, 31, 32, 42. 

Bruce, Robert, 119. 

Brunanburgh, battle of, 58. 

Buccaneers, 206. 

Budget, annual, 268. 

Bunyan, John, 258. 

Burleigh, Lord, 199. 

Bute, Lord, 283. 

Cabal ministry, 260. 

Caedmon, 50. 

Caesar in Britain, 29. 

Canada, taken, 282; government 

settled, 299. 
Canning, George, 291. 
Canterbury, 22 ; Augustine at, 46; 

burned by Danes, 55; shrine of St. 

Thomas, 92. 
Canute, 62. 
Caractacus, 34. 
Carr, Robert, 221. 
Cassivelaunus, 31. 
Castles, 80, 165. 
Catharine of Aragon, 166, 171. 
Cathedral towns, 18. 
Cato Street Conspiracy, 291. 
Cavalier Parliament, 258. 
Caxton, William, 154. 
Cecil, Robert, 221. 
Celts, 28. 
Cerdic, 40. 
Channel Islands, 13. 
Charles I., 222, 223, 225-48. 



3i4 



Index. 



Charles 11., 15 

Charles Edward Stuart 

Chartei of Henry I., 8a, 103. 

Chartism, 195-7. 

Chaucer, ;.;.;. 

Church >>(' England, m issionaries 
from Ireland, 45; conversion of Eng- 
land, 46-8; Synod ol Whitby, 49 • 
undei l anfranc, 75; under Anselra. 
70; right of investiture, 83; de- 
livers England from anarchy, 88; 
under Henry [I., 01 ; Becket 
under John, toi-a; Wyclif, 134-7; 
why. 135; the king's suprem- 
acj established, 172-4; monasteries 
dissolved, 174-6, 180; first influence 
of Reformation, 176, 1--; "Six 
Articles," 178, t8a, 183 r86; Council 
ot rrent, 181; changes undei K>!- 
ward VI., 185, 186; Catholic re- 

■1 under Mai y, 189-94 . 
beth's policy toward, 

the Thirty-nine Articles, aoi ; 
rest Act, aoi ; rise of Puritans, 204; 
persecution of Jesuits, 105; the 
Millenary Petition, .'i;>; Hampton 
Court Conference, 218; Kingjames's 
Bible, 218; Laud's persecution of 
Puritans, -•.;-•; Pi esbj 101 i .1 n i s m 
established, .'.(.;, .'45: Anglican sen - 
ice forbidden, 254 ; Anglican sen ice 
restored, 258; legislation against 
non-conformists, 258; Declaration of 
Indulg the s> \ en Bishops, 

Churchill (Marlborough), 267, 273-6. 

Chin Is, 

Cinque P01 is. la 

Civil Wai . 141-9. 

Clarence, Duke of. 155. 

Cl.u ei house ( Dundi 

Climate, 15. 

Robert 1 ord, 18 
Cobden, Richard, - 
Commonwealth, 250*7. 
Constitutions of Clarendon, or. 
Continental System 
Contract, the Great 
Conventicle Act, 158. 
Conversion of English, 40. 
Cook. Captain James .-- 



Corn-law repeal, .-- 9 
Coronation chair, 115. 
Corporation Act, 258 
Covenant, .-,;;. 
Cranmer, Archbishop, 17a - 
Crecy, battle of. 127. 
Crimean Wat . 300. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 23a 137,24a - 
Cromwell, Richard, 
Cromwell, Thomas, 1 
Crusades, 80, ■ , B 
Culloden, battle of, .-Si 

"4- 
C\ inn. .'0. 

Danegelt, 61. 

Danelav. 

Danes, 5.;; in Ireland. 54; burn 
London, 55 ; masters of half Britain, 
56; massacre of. ot conquer Eng- 
land i>.-, 63. 

Darolfey, Henry Lord, aoi 

Debt, national. 271. 

Defender of the Faith. 170. 

Despenser, Hughle, 122. 

Disraeli, Benjamin, - - oS. 

Divine right of kings 

Domesday l^ook. 70. 77. 

Douaj . 

Drake, Sii Francis, ao6, 

Pi uids, .;.•. 

Dudley, Earl of Leicestei »8 

Dunbai , battle 01, .257. 

Dunes, battle .- . 

Ealdorman, .1.;. 

Earls, 43, 

East Anglia, 41. 

Bast India Company, ."..;. 

Edgar, 50. 

Edgai the Atheling, 

Edgehill, battle of, --}.-. 

Edinburgh, 47. 

Edmund Ironside. 6 . 

Edward 1., 112-9. 

Edward II., 114. 120-3. 

Fd waul 111., ta 

Edward l\ '.. 153-6 

Edward V., 15 

Edward VI . ■. - 8. 

Edward, the Black Prince, 127 

Edward the Confessor, 63, 04. 

Edward the Elder, 5 



Imlr I . 



3'5 



Edward the Mai tyr, 61 (not 1 

Edwin "i Northumbi ia, 46. 

Egbert, ;i 

Elioti Sir John, 220, 226, 228, 229. 

Elizabel h, 1 Juei n, 1 - i ■ < s - 2 1 3 . 

Ely, defen le of, 70. 

Mh. Ibert,46. 

Ethelred the ' '<<< eady, 6i . 

! ham, battle of, 1 10. 

Exi hequer, 93. 

Falkirk, battle <>f, 117. 

Famine in Ireland, 104. 

Fenian Assoi iation, 304. 

Feudal system, 72. 

Field of Cloth of ('.old, 169. 

I' 1 ih< 1, Bishop, 173. 

rive Mile Act, 258. 

Flodden, battle of, [68. 

i' orests, royal, 81 . 

Fox, Clin les linn's, 286. 

France, Normans in, 68; at war with 
Richard I., 100 ; I [undred Years' 
War, 124-30, 142-9 ; Edward III. re- 
noum es his claim, 1 29 ; I [enry V. 
claims crown, 142; Hcmy VI. pro- 
claimed king, 143; Bedford's cam 
paigns in, 140; Joan of Arc, 146-9. 

F 1 in 8, 1 10. 

( raels, 29. 

< iardinei , Bishop, 184-9. 
( iaunt, John of, 130, 151. 

< raves toil, Tiers, 120. 
1 reddes, Jenny, 234. 

Genealogical tables : The Conqueror's 
Children, 86 1 Edward 1 1 1.'s ' llaim 
to the Frem h < 'n>« n, 1 26 ; 1 >■ si 1 nl 
oi 1 [enry 1 V., 1 59 ; I .ancaster and 
York (descendants of Edward III.), 
151- 

GeofTrey of Anjou, 84. 

( reoffi ey of Brittany/os. 

1 George I., 276-80. 

George II., 280-3. 

1 reorge III., 283-91. 

George IV'., regent, 290; king, 291-2. 

1 .1. ni oe, m 1 sai re of, 70 (noti ). 

< Hendowei , revolt of, 1 r o 
Gibraltar, 274. 
Gladstone, W. E., 298, 306. 
1 rodiva, 63. 

' rodolphin, 273, 275. 



1 iodwin, 63. 

' rrand Alliance, 270, 272. 

1 rrand Ri monsl rani e, 240. 

Gregory VII., 75. 

Grenville, Lord 

Grey, Lady Jane, [66, 1 i, 192. 

( runpowder Plot, 219 

Hampden, John, 227, 228, 231, 237. 

Hampton Court Conference, 218. 

Hanover, 278, 295. 

Harley, Robert (Oxford), 275, 276. 

Harold, 64-6. 

Harold Hardrada, 65. 

Hastings, battle of, 66. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 207, 210. 

Hengesterdun, battle of, 54. 

Hengist and Horsa, 39. 

Henrj I., 81-4. 

Henry II., 84,89-96. 

Henry III., 106-10. 

1 tern v IV., 139-41. 

I [enry Y., 141-3. 

I I en 1 v VI., 145-56. 
Henry VII., 158, 161-6. 
Henry VIII., 166-83. 

1 Inn v, " the Young King," 94-6. 

Heptarchy, the Saxon, 41. 

I [eresy, Statute of, 141. 

Hereward, 70. 

I [exham, battle of, 155. 

1 1 1'h Commission, court of, 232, 239. 

I logue, battle of, 270. 

I [ome rule, 306. 

1 low aid, Admiral, 210, 211. 

Hundred Years' War, the, 125, 142-9. 

Hyde, Edward (Clarendon), 237. 

Impositions, 220. 

Independents, 204, 218. 

India, Trading Company chartered, 
214; first foothold, 259 (note); Clive 
in, 246; mutiny in, 301 ; empress of, 
303- 

Illll'M cut [II., 102. 

Investiture, 83. 

lona, 45, 

Ireland, early Christianity, 45; over- 
run by Danes, 54; Strongbow in, 
94; Tyrone's revolt, 212; planta- 
tion of Ulster, 221; Wentworth in 
235; Ulster massacres, 239; battle 
of the Boyne in, 270; legislative 



,16 



Index. 



union with Great Britain, 288; 
O'Connell's agitation for repeal, 
Gladstone's policy toward, 
306, 

Ironsides, Cromw< 

Jacobites, in Ireland, 270; in Scot- 
land, 275, . 281. 

James I., 202, 216-25. 

James 11-. 257 

James Edward Stuart, . 

Jeffreys 

Jesuits. 10S, 205. 

Jews, persecuted, or> ; expelled. [20 ; 

restored, 254. 
Joan of Arc, 146-9. 
John, King, - . 101-5. 

Jubilee, Victorian, 
Junius. Letters of, 
Junto, the Whig. 271 . 
Jutes. 38. 

Killiecrankie, battle of, - 
Knox, John, 203. 
Lanfranc, 75. 
1 angland, William, 133. 
I angton, Stephen, 103. 
I anguage, 132, 133. 
Latimei . Bishop, is.-, 18 . 
1 aud, Archbishop, 230, .'45. 
I ewes, battle of, lie. 
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, 114. 
Lollards, 135, 141. 
1 ondon, 21 ; (Londinium) burned, .;.) ; 

bunted by Panes. 55; Towel 
ague and the, 260. 

Londonderry, siege of, 270. 
Longchamp, William, 98. 
Magna Charta, 103. 
Malplaquet, battle o\, 274. 

MarSton Moor, battle of, 244. 
Martyrs, the first English, 141; Ma- 
rian, 193. 
Mary I. ( rudoi }, 172, [& 
Mary 11 . 2 - 

Mai y Queen ol Scots - . -'09. 

Massachusetts, 230. 
Matilda, " Empress," - 
Men ia, 41 . Si- 
Middlesex, 41. 
Millenary Petition, 216. 
Milton, John. 



Monasteries, 60 ; dissolution of, 174. 
Monk. General, -'50. 
Monmouth, Duke of, 261, 264. 
Montfort, Simon de, 108, no. 
Montrose, Marquis of, 244. 
More, S11 Thomas, 17_;. 

Mortimei . Rogei . 122, 1-4. 
Morton's Fork, 165. 
Mutiny Aet, 268. 
Mj thology, not them, 42. 
Napoleon ie Wars, 28 
Xaseby, battle of, .-46. 
l'S victories. 287. 
Xe\ ille's Closs, battle of, 128. 
New England., 231 . 
New Mode'., 245. 
N01 mandy, 68 ; joined to England, So, 

83 ; lost, 101. 
N01 man-. 68, 

Northampton, battle of, 152 ; treaty of, 

124. 
Northmen, 53. 
Nbrthumbi ia, 50. 
Oates, Titus. 
O'Connell, Daniel, 29: 

itle, l ord Cobham, 141, 14.'. 
Opium war, the, 299. 
Ordainers, 129. 
Ordeals, 71. 
Oswald, 48. 

Oudenarde, battle of, 274. 
Oxford, Provisions of, 109. 

Pai li anient. 108; Simon de Mont Ion's. 
Hi' ; the " pel Kit " Pat ban lent, 117 ; 
separate houses. [30; under I leni \ 
VII., km: under Henry VIII., 169, 
170, i8oj under Elizabeth, 213 ; undei 
James 1.. 219; the Addled Parlia- 
ment, 220; protests to the king, 224; 
first two Parliaments of Charles 1., 
.;-; third, 228; the Short Par- 
liament, 336; the Long Parliament, 

. 256; attempt to an est the the 
members, 240; takes arms against 
the king, .-41; takes the Covenant, 
243 : quai rels with the ai my, 
purged of its Presbyterians, 248; the 
Rump Barebone's Parlia- 

ment, 252; Cromwell's second Par- 
liament, 254. Cromwell dissolves 
Parliament, 255 , recall of the Rump, 



Inde r. 



3i7 



256; convention Parliament, 256; 
Cavalier- Parliament, 258; obtains 
control of expenditure, 268; controls 
army, 269; passes Septennial Act, 
279; the Reform Bill, 293 ; the Chart- 
ists' demands, 296. 

Peasants' Revolt, 137. 

Peel, Sir Robert, 298. 

Pi mbroke, Earl of, 106. 

Penda, 47. 

Petition and Advice, 254. 

Petition of Right, 224. 

Philip II. of Spain, 191, 209, 210. 

Philiphaugh, battle of, 246. 

Pilgrimage of Grace, 174. 

Pinkie, battle of, 185. 

Pitt (Wm.), Lord Chatham, 282. 

Pitt, Wm. (the younger), 286-9. 

Plague in London, 266. 

Plantagenet, 84. 

Plassy, battle of, 282. 

Poitiers, battle of, 129. 

Pole, Cardinal, 192, 195. 

Popish Plot, 261. 

Praemunire, 140. 

Presbyterians, 218, 245. 

Preston Pans, battle of, 248. 

Pretenders, the Stuart, 279. 

Pride's Purge, 248, 256. 

Protestantism of Wyclif, 134-7; and 
Henry VIII. , 176-82; under Edward 
VI., 185; betrayed by James II., 
264-6; legal religion of the monarch, 
276. 

Protestation, the, 224. 

Prynne, William, 232. 

Puritans, 204, 216-8. 

Pym, John, 237, 239, 243. 

Quebec taken, 2S2. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 212. 

Ramillies, battle of, 274. 

Reform Bill, 282. 

Reformation in England, 176. 

Religion of early Britons, 32, 33. 

Restoration, the, 256. 

Revolution, the, 266-9. 

Richard I., 96-100. 

Richard II., 135-9. 

Richard III., 151, 152, 156-9. 

Riot Act, 278. 

Romans in Britain, 29-38. 



Roses, Wars of the, 149-59. 

" Rump," 250, 256. 

Runnytnede, 103. 

Rupert, Prince, 241. 

Rye House Plot, 261. 

Ryswick, peace of, 272. 

St. Albans, battle of, 152. 

St. Brice's Day, 61. 

St. Chad, 48. 

St. Columba, 45. 

St. Cuthbert,48. 

St. Dunstan, 59. 

St. Edmund, 55. 

St. John (Bolingbroke), 275, 276. 

St. Patrick, 45. 

St. Thomas, 92. 

Salad in 1 98. 

Salisbury Oath, 76. 

Saxons, 38. 

Scone, Stone of, 115, 116. 

Scotland, 13; subject to William I., 
70; submits to Henry II., 95; pur- 
chases liberty, 97; Edward I. in, 
114, 115, 119; Wallace, 116; Bruce, 
119, 121 ; independence acknowl- 
edged, 124; opposes Henry VIII. , 
182, 183 ; relations with France, 185, 
199 ; Mary Queen of Scots, 200-2 ; 
personal union under James VI. and 
I., 216; church affairs under Charles 
!•> 2 33 ; the Covenant, 234 ; the Bis- 
hops' Wars, 236; alliance with Eng- 
lish Parliament, 243 ; persecution of 
covenanters, 263 ; Argyle's rebellion, 
264; accepts William and Mary, 
269; Dundee's rebellion, 269; legis- 
lative union with England, 275; 
Jacobite rising of 1715, 279 ; Jacobite 
rising of 1745, 281. 

Sebastopol, siege of, 301 . 

Senlac, battle of, 66. 

Sepoy Rebellion, 301-3. 

Septennial Act, 279. 

Settlement, Act of, 276. 

Seven Bishops, trial of, 266. 

Seven Years' War, 282. 

Seymour, Edward (Somerset), 184, 
188. 

Sheriffmuir, battle of, 289. 

Ship money, 231. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 208. 



,iS 



Index. 



Simnel, Lambert, 163. 

Slave trade abolished, 291. 

SI uys, battle of, 126. 

South Sea Bubble, 279. 

Spanish succession, 272. 

Spurs, battle of the, 168. 

Stamford Bridge, battle of, 65. 

Stamp Act, 284. 

Standard, battle of the, 87. 

Star Chamber, court of, 165, 231, 239. 

Stephen, 86, 87. 

Stirling, battle of, 116. 

Stonehenge, 33. 

Strongbow, 94. 

Supremacy, Act of, 172. 

Sussex, 40. 

Sweyn, 61. 

Test Act, the, 265. 

Tewkesbury, battle of, 156. 

Thames, 20. 

Thanes, 43. 

Theodore of Tarsus, 49. 

Thirty-nine Articles, 201. 

Toleration, 246, 254, 266. 

Tonnage and poundage, 164. 

Tory, 261. 

Tovvton, battle of, 153. 

Trent, council of, 181. 

Triennial Act, 238. 

Triple Alliance, the, 260. 

Troves, treaty of, 143. 

Tudor, Owen, 158. 

Tyler, Wat, 137. 

Ulster, plantations in, 221 ; massacres 

"11,239. 
Uniformity, Act of, 258. 
Union of Scotland and England, 275 ; 

of Great Britain and Ireland, 2S8. 
Universities, rise of, ill. 
Utrecht, treaty of, 276. 
Verneuil, battle of, 146. 
Victoria, 295-307. 



Vikings, 53. 

Village community, the, 42. 

Villiers, George (Buckingham), 221-9.. 

Vortigern, 39. 

Wakefield, battle of, 153. 

Wales, 13; origin of name, 40; con- 
quered by Edward I., 112, 113; 
statute of, 114; Glendower's revolt,. 
140. 

Wall, Roman, 39. 

Wallace, William, 116. 

Wallingford, treaty of, 88. 

Walpole, Robert, 2S0. 

Walter, Hubert, 99, 101. 

Warbeck, Perkin, 163. 

Warwick, the " king- maker," 152, 

155- 
Wedmore, peace of, 56. 
Wellington, Duke of, 290, 292. 
Wentworth, Thomas (Strafford), 

221, 228, 230, 238. 
Wessex, 40, 51. 
Westminster Abbey, 64, 66. 
Westminster Assembly, 245. 
Whig, 261. 

Whip of Six Strings, 177. 
Whitby, Synod of, 49. 
William I., the Conqueror, 5S, 64-77. 
William II., Rufus, 78-81. 
William III., of Orange, 263, 266-73. 
William IV., 292. 
Winchelsey, Bishop, 118. 
Witenagemot, 43. 
Wolfe, James, 282. 
Wolsey, Thomas, 168, 171. 
Wool-growing, 187. 
Worcester, battle of, 251. 
Wyatt's Rebellion, 191. 
Wyclif, 134, 135, 137. 
Wykeham, William of, 131. 
" Young Ireland," 304. 
Zutphen, battle of, 20S. 



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